TDSAT reserves order on Vodafone-Idea plea

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on Thursday reserved the order on Vodafone Idea plea against the TRAI, asking the telecom firm to put on hold its RedX premium plan, which offers faster data speed and priority services to customers.

The tribunal is likely to announce its order in a day or two.

The TRAI in its reply said telecom companies in 2017 said that it was not possible to guarantee minimum speed on wireless network. Now telcos are offering 50 per cent extra speed. So the telecom companies' claims need to be verified, the regulator said.

The TDSAT order will have also impact Bharti Airtel’s Platinum plan, launched last week for postpaid users.

Earlier, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had blocked Bharti Airtel’s Platinum and Vodafone Idea’s RedX premium plans, which offer faster data speed and priority services to customers.

While asking two companies to withhold the two schemes till further order, the TRAI said such a scheme might harm the service quality of mobile users.

The regulator, which is studying whether these two offers by the telecom companies violates the net neutrality, also asked telecom firms to clarify in one week whether the customers of these two plans entitled higher 4G speed at the cost of service deterioration to other mobile users.

Vodafone Idea had approached the appellate tribunal on Monday seeking interim relief. However, the Tribunal has refused to stay the TRAI order and instead asked the regulator to submit its reply.