Bharti Airtel rallies after TDSAT sets aside Rs 650 crore fine

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel Ltd rallied as much as 2.1 per cent in trade on Wednesday, after the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal ( TDSAT) has set aside penalty notices of Rs 650 crore slapped on Bharti Airtel. The stock however slipped into red later in the day.

The tribunal on Tuesday stayed the penalty notices while allowing petitions of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India challenging the telecom department's move.

At 09:45 a.m.; Bharti Airtel was trading 0.34 per cent lower at Rs 353.05. It hit a low of Rs 352.3 and a high of Rs 362 in trade today.

Calling the penalties disproportionate to the violations, the TDSAT chided the telecom department for imposing the harshest penalty possible under the licence conditions, ET reported.

"Under subscriber local dialling service, a subscriber while roaming could prefix a code before dialing a number and could forgo payment of roaming charges. DoT accused Airtel and Vodafone of causing loss to BSNL, whom they would have to otherwise pay charges," added the report.