Telecom tribunal TDSAT has admitted GSM players' lobby group COAI's plea against Trai's directive to telecom operators that they must de-activate the ISD facility in pre-paid numbers and restore it only after getting consent from the subscriber.

In its petition COAI called the directive as irrational, unreasonable, arbitrary, illegal, and without application of mind.

"The telecom regulator has directed all operators to take far excessive, disproportionate and retrograde steps to address a far less problems of missed calls from abroad, without even considering," COAI's plea said.

A TDSAT bench headed by its Chairman Justice S B Sinha has admitted the plea. The matter would now come on October 8 for next hearing.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) also asked Trai not to take any coercive action against operators.

"Inform all pre-paid subscribers having ISD facility, through SMS, within 10 days of the date of issue of this direction, that ISD facility of the subscribers shall be discontinued after sixty days," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had said in a directive to telcos early this month.

"If such subscribers want to continue with ISD facility, they should give their explicit consent for availing such facility within 60 days of the receipt of the SMS," it added.

Trai has issued this directive following complaints from consumers about missed calls from international telephone numbers which are often premium numbers charging high tariff, prompting the consumers to make call to such numbers.