New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) policy which made it mandatory for telecom companies to compensate consumers for call drops. The apex court observed that the TRAI recommendation to impose penalty on telcos is arbitrary, unreasonable and non transparent.
TRAI had made it mandatory for cellular operators to pay consumers Rs 1 per call drop experienced on their networks, subject to a cap of Rs 3 a day.
The telecom operators had moved court seeking quashing of TRAI’s regulation contending that it was a “knee-jerk reaction” which penalised them without proving any wrong-doing.
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27 Oct 2025
The telcos had termed the regulation as “arbitrary and whimsical” and contended that providing compensation to the consumers amounted to interfering with the companies’ tariff structure and this could be done only by an order and not a regulation.
