Bharti Airtel has approached the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) against Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) on grounds of alleged non-payment of Rs 2.87 billion as termination charges for SMSs.
Thereafter, TDSAT issued a notice to TTSL and directed it to file its reply within two weeks. Meanwhile, the tribunal has also asked Bharti Airtel to file a rejoinder over the reply filed by TTSL within a week and directed the operator to list the issue on November 24, 2011, for an interim order.
Termination charges are paid by an operator from whose network calls or SMSs originate to the one on whose network these communications end.
During the proceedings, the counsel appearing for Bharti Airtel alleged that TTSL was not paying the SMS termination charges due from 2009 onwards, despite several reminders.
This was opposed by TTSL’s counsel who said that there was a bill and keep system in the sector and every player was following that norm.
