The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has moved an application in the Supreme Court seeking an extension of three months for finalising the new Interconnection Usage Charge (IUC) regime, as directed by the telecom tribunal last year.
Earlier, the court had given the regulator four months till June 4 for coming up with its recommendations. Besides, Trai has also requested the SC to ?grant suitable direction regarding the procedure and method to be followed by it (Trai) since there are difficulties/issues with regard to implementation of compliance with the directions of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) in the impugned order?.
TDSAT had on September 29 last year set aside Trai’s Interconnection Usage Charges (Regulation), 2009, and asked the body to bring out fresh regulations in consultation with various stakeholders. Following this, Trai on April 27 issued a consultation paper on IUC. A set of GSM companies questioned some of the issues raised in it, contending that it was not in accordance with the TDSAT directions.