The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India wrote to telecom companies ordering them to comply with its orders to start compensating subscribers for calls which are dropped, beginning January 1. Mobile service providers have been defiant till now, refusing to comply till the court orders them to compensate users. The rules mandate service providers to pay Re 1 compensation for each call dropped, with a cap of Rs 3 a day.

Telecom companies approached Delhi High Court earlier, after which the court instructed TRAI not to take any coercive action till the date of its next hearing, on January 6. Economic Times reported that the move new rule could lose service providers around 3% of their revenue, and would hurt the telecom industry by Rs 54,000 crore a year. TRAI said the most revenue lost due to the move would not exceed Rs 800 crore annually.