The Supreme Court, in a significant decision, ordered telecom service providers to disclose details of special tariffs and offers made to consumers.
The bench of CJI SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian said that seeking adherence to regulatory principles such as transparency and non-discrimination was not illegal or unjustified.
The court then asked respondents (Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea) to disclose the details with respect to segmented offers to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). However, such information would be confidential.
For the unversed, segmented tariffs are for those users who show an inclination to leave a network as retention SOPs.
It must be mentioned here that TRAI had made it compulsory for the telecom service providers to disclose information on all such plans. However, Airtel and Vodafone had opposed the decision and sought relief from the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on the grounds that it violate commercial confidentiality, while Reliance Jio and state-owned mobile operators have complied with the TRAI order.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for TRAI, said that neither can telecom companies cannot create a special class of consumers nor can they make anti-competitive or discriminatory offers.
Generally, the companies usually offer better data speeds, preferential customer status, access to streaming platforms in order, among others in order to retain consumers.