The Delhi High Court has dismissed an appeal from Vodafone Idea (Vi) against a recommendation by the telecom regulator that could mean that Vi has to pay a Rs 2000 crore penalty. The recommendation from TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) came because the telco had denied points of interconnect to Reliance Jio. Because of this, customers of Reliance Jio faced several call drops and poor network experience. According to a CNBC-TV18 report, Vi's appeal against the TRAI recommendation has been quashed by the Delhi HC. This could mean that Vi would now have to pay a Rs 2000 crore penalty on top of its existing liabilities.
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But it wasn't Vi alone that had denied Jio points of interconnect. Back in 2016, there was no Vi. There was Vodafone and Idea. Further, another major player at the time was Bharti Airtel. All these telcos had denied Jio points of interconnect. Looking at this, TRAI had said that a levy of Rs 50 crore penalty would be applicable for both Airtel and Vodafone for each of the 21 telecom circles in India (J&K was excluded). At the same time, the same penalty was applicable for Idea as well, but for 19 circles. This meant a penalty of Rs 1050 crore for Airtel and Vodafone and a penalty of Rs 950 crore for Idea.
Since Vodafone and Idea merged to become Vi, their penalties also merged to become Rs 2000 crore (Rs 1050 crore + Rs 950 crore). TRAI had said that the move from the competitors of Jio was aimed at stifling competition and was also anti-consumer. Vodafone had moved against the recommendation of TRAI. But nothing good has come out of it so far. The Delhi HC has already quashed the appeal from Vi, and now a detailed report on the matter is awaited.
