Bharti Cellular Ltd vs Union Of India & Ors

The Supreme Court, in this case, addressed an appeal under Section 18 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, challenging the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal's order regarding the computation of licence fees. The Court held that the commencement date of the Licence Agreement should be considered as the date when commercial services began, i.e., 15th November 1995, rather than the date of interface/service approval. Additionally, the Court ruled that the method of calculating the number of subscribers for licence fee purposes must reflect actual active connections, thus impacting the fee structure from the fourth year onwards.