The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has ruled (.pdf) in favour of the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI), in their case against the Department of telecom's decision to levy a uniform annual license fee for providing pure-play Internet services. The tribunal, in its verdict said that the clause in the DoT order which said that the license fee would include all types of revenue from Internet services and that revenues from Internet services will also be included provisionally in the definition of applicable AGR provisionally for ISP-IT category till the government takes a final decision, cannot be sustained. The tribunal also said that the Central government should have considered whether UAS service licensess and ISP licensees had a level playing field, and it should have taken appropriate measures in that behalf but the licensees could not have been asked provisionally to pay on the basis…
