Call drop penalty a 'populist measure', Telecom operators tell SC

The telecom service providers on Thursday told the Supreme Court that TRAI’s decision to saddle them with penalty for call drops was a “populist” measure. “You can’t have presumption in law to impose penalty on the presumption that every call drop is attributable to me”, Sibal said, pointing to host of factors contributing to call drops which were beyond the control of the service providers. The court was told that the call drop could take place on account of Electromagnatic Radiation which are the lowest in the world and more efficient, paucity of air-waves, large number of service providers, a large based of consumers, high rise buildings, damage to underground optical fibre lines due to digging by government agencies, inadequate towers or absence of them, poor quality of the consumer’s handset, and several other imponderables on which service providers have no control. The high court order had come as it dismissed the plea of telecom operators for a stay on Trai’s compensation policy, announced on October 16, 2015, for call drops under which a rupee will be credited to the mobile users’ account for every call drop starting January 1, 2016.