Vodafone-Aircel dispute on SMS resolved

The telecom tribunal on Friday directed Aircel to pay SMS termination fee of 5 paise per message to Vodafone India till the dispute is fully resolved.

The 5 paise termination charge is half of Vodafone's demand of 10 paise per SMS as termination. The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) also directed Vodafone to immediately open up its network to SMSes sent from Aircel's network.

The tribunal also asked Vodafone to file a reply to  Aircel's plea within three weeks. The matter will come for hearing on 10 January 2013.

On Thursday, Aircel moved TDSAT, after Vodafone blocked text messages on its network across Chennai, Tamil Nadu, New Delhi and Karnataka circles. Many Aircel customers had received text messages on Thursday mentioning the block, with the company assuring it was trying to resolve the issue.

Vodafone is the second operator to block Aircel's SMSes on its network, after Bharti Airtel blocked SMSes from Aircel since 9 Novemeber.

Earlier, Bharti Airtel had blocked SMS traffic to Aircel and Reliance Communications (RCom), but connectivity to RCom subscribers were restored following an interim TDSAT ruling.

Airtel had blocked the text messages alleging that the companies were spamming its network with ''free SMS''.

Separately, a dispute between Tata Teleservices Ltd and Vodafone India over SMS termination charges also reached TDSAT. Vodafone India had issued a notice stating it would block the Tata group company's text messages on the latter's platform, unless it paid the termination fee.