Bombay HC upholds TRAI's new tariff order, rejects pricing

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has upheld the new tariff order (NTO) of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) published by it in January 2020 and upheld its constitutional validity. But, the court did not accept the new order regarding pricing.

The bench has struck down one of the pricing conditions which mandated that the maximum retail price (MRP) per month of any "a-la-carte channel forming a part of the bouquet" should not exceed a three-time of the average MRP of a pay channel of the bouquet, and called such a condition "arbitrary".

The broadcasters had called the new tariff order reasonable and challenged it.

The verdict stated that when the challenge to the 2020 regulation and tariff order is concerned, it fails except to the extent of the second twin condition, which is the average test, said The Indian Express. The broadcasters can increase the price of a channel beyond the average price.

TRAI had decided in January that only the channels with an MRP of Rs 12 or less will be permitted to be part of the bouquet offered by broadcasters. The telecom regulator had lowered MRP from Rs. 19 to Rs. 12. The rule was to be made effective from March 1, 2020.

The High Court clarified that TRAI will not take any "coercive action" against non-compliance by the broadcasters for another six weeks.

The bench of Justices A A Sayed and Anuja Prabhudesai granted partial relief to TV broadcasters and set aside the challenging constitutional validity of section 11 of TRAI.

Section 11 enumerates the functions and authority of the telecom regulator over broadcasters.