The case will come up for hearing on January 28, while the new ADC regime comes into effect from February 1. The Association of Unified Service Providers Association will also file an application in the matter.
During the hearing, MTNL counsel C H Sunderam argued that in the new access deficit charge regime, MTNL (and all other fixed line operators) had been denied ADC on all incoming international calls and outgoing calls from mobile/WLL (M) which would cause a deficit of Rs 550 crore and have a "far reaching" effect.
He said unless the ADC was given to it, MTNL would not be able to offer "affordable" telecom services as it is already offering below cost rental of Rs 250 a month against the cost based rental of Rs 460 a month.
Sunderam said the regulator had been frequently changing its orders on this issue without realising the consequences and any sound justification.
The current ADC order is of October 2003 and is based on 'forecast and limited data'. It could be treated as interim since TRAI had said that looking at the response, it would again review it after three months.
Sunderam said "There has been a major change in the ADC regime and TRAI has come to an interim conclusion which will have several financial ramifications for MTNL.
Therefore, MTNL has filed the appeal and does not want this new regime to come into force until all these aspects are looked into. "TDSAT has not refused to stay the case and the arguments would continue on January 28", he said.
TRAI counsel Meet Malhotra said "The court briefly heard the arguments on Monday and has set January 28 as the next date of hearing after both the parties complete their arguments.
Fixed operators like MTNL used to receive ADC on incoming long distance calls terminating on their network. In the new regime, they would not receive the ADC and stand to lose revenue.
Last year, MTNL got Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) by way of ADC. In the new order, only BSNL will get the ADC.
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