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TDSAT rejects VSNL petition on long distance calling cards

Tata has received a minor setback as the telecom tribunal TDSAT has rejected its petition against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and Department of Telecommunication. TDSAT also declared that the long distance calling cards sold by the company was illegal.

Justice N Santosh Hegde, Chairman of the TDSAT said in the ruling: “We have come to the conclusion that the appellant (VSNL) is not authorized to provide the service of calling cards for making out-bound long distance calls under the conditions and clauses provided by national long distance or international long distance license.”

He added: “This service can only be provided under the license of basic service operator or unified access service license. By introducing this service, the appellant (VSNL) is directly accessing these subscribers, which is not allowed as per the license condition.”

TRAI had earlier asked the VSNL to stop long distance calling cards on the ground that VSNL is getting direct access to the consumers which was outside their license powers. TRAI also claimed that the company was not providing any data regarding the caller’s identification and this made it tough for the security agencies to keep track of the illegal activities going on using these cards.