The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has asked Vodafone India not to discontinue the interconnection of SMSs originating from Reliance Communications’ (RCOM) customers in 12 circles, say news reports.
TDSAT has added that this is on condition that RCOM pays Re 0.05 per SMS as termination fee to Vodafone India.Further, TDSAT has mandated that in the circles where the two operators did not have any agreements, Vodafone India should not impose any SMS termination fee on RCOM until a final decision is taken by TDSAT on the matter.
According to TDSAT, no one operator has the right to modify the terms and conditions of a contract or unilaterally modify the agreement.
Following, TDSAT’s order, RCOM will have to pay an SMS termination fee of Re 0.05 to Vodafone India for the Maharashtra, Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, North East, Orissa, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh (East), Kerala and Tamil Nadu circles.
On October 25, 2012, Vodafone India had said that RCOM owes it Rs 113 million as SMS termination fee. It asked RCOM to pay Re 0.10 per SMS as the termination fee for between April and September 2012. According to Vodafone India, RCOM’s failure to pay the SMS termination fee by November 9, 2012, would have led to the termination of RCOM’s SMS services on its network.
Subsequently, RCOM filed a petition against Vodafone India before the TDSAT.
