TDSAT reserves order on Tata Teleservices-Vodafone dispute on SMS fee

TDSAT on Tuesday reserved its order on the interim plea of Tata Teleservices, which had approached the telecom tribunal against Vodafone's notice threatening to disconnect termination of SMSes on its network over a dispute on certain fees.

A single-member Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) bench of P K Rastogi reserved his interim order after hearing the arguments from both the sides.

On November 7, Vodafone had issued termination notice to Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) asking it to pay Rs 188 crore as SMS termination fee by November 17, failing which it would disconnect the Tata group firm SMSes from its network.

Following this, TTSL had moved TDSAT requesting the tribunal to set aside the notice issued by Vodafone. It had also alleged that Vodafone had unilaterally changed the IUC (Interconnection Usage Charges) conditions.

TTSL had also requested the tribunal to pass an interim order to restrain Vodafone ex-parte from giving effect to its demands and taking any coercive action against it.

On November 16, during the last hearing, Vodafone had assured TDSAT that it would not stop interconnection of TTSL SMSes from its network.

Vodafone is demanding termination fee from TTSL at the rate of 10 paise per SMS from April 2011.

Termination charges are paid by an operator from whose network calls or SMSes originate to the one on whose network these communications end. These charges impact tariffs.