TRAI draft amendments to tariff order prescribes penalties for breach of rules

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today released a draft amendment to the Telecommunication Tariff Order (TTO), 1999, which seeks to prescribe penalties on service providers in cases of breach of rules.

As per the provisions of Telecommunication Tariff Order, service providers are required to report tariff to the TRAI within seven days from the date of implementation. However, service providers seldom follow the time limit of seven days for reporting tariff to the authority.

With a view to ensure compliance of the reporting requirement by all service providers, TRAI has proposed to prescribe a late fee of Rs5,000 per day, subject to a maximum of Rs2,00,000.

In cases of levy of excess charges in violation of provisions of TTO and other regulatory guidelines, TRAI said it has been ordering refunds of such excess amounts charged to the affected subscribers.

Since the refund made is only the amount that has been levied illegally and detected by the authority, there is no compulsion for service providers to confine the charging to the permitted level. To avoid instances of excess charging, as a deterrent measure, it is proposed to prescribe certain financial disincentives, TRAI said.

TRAI will notify the Tariff Order after considering the views of the stakeholders and making changes as may be considered necessary.