(ET)
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has dismissed the Telecom Commission’s claims that the sector’s health is deteriorating and contested its authority to comment on promotional tariff plans.
A senior Trai official, who did not want to be named, told ET that the sectoral watchdog will shortly write to the Telecom Commission (TC), the highest decision making body in the telecom department (DoT), saying its view linking the health of the sector to the revenue accruing to the government was faulty, and matters around tariffs, including promotional offers, fall within the domain of the regulator.
In February, the commission, under the then telecom secretary JS Deepak, had pulled up the regulator over the deteriorating health of the sector, citing a Rs 800-crore dip in the revenue of telcos in the October-December period and the resultant fall in licence fee and spectrum usage charge paid to the government.