Regulation pays

Perspectives
With the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) upholding the decision of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the need to cut bandwidth rates, the rates are all set to fall by as much as 70 per cent in certain cases. The TRAI had originally floated a consultation paper on the subject in April last year and had passed an order in March this year. This was successfully challenged by VSNL at the TDSAT by arguing that TRAI had not shared data with it. Having done that, the TRAI issued a fresh order in September. While striking down the VSNL appeal on this fresh order, the TDSAT imposed costs on it, implying thereby that the litigation was frivolous and aimed at delaying the tariff cut.