Supreme Court rules against TRAI penalty on call drops

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down the telecom regulator's directive ordering mobile operators to recompense users for dropped calls.

The Apex court in its order called the directive ‘arbitrary and unconstitutional’.

The order of the court has come almost eight months after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) hinted to impose a fine of Rs 1 per dropped call, up to a maximum of three such calls a day.

The TRAI had also asked the operators to send message to calling consumer within four hours of the dropped call the details of amount credited to his account.

The move had attracted strong protests from telcos, which claimed penalty would hurt their business.