Foreign satellite transponder bandwidth services, involving...

Foreign satellite transponder bandwidth services, involving communication between earth points through satellite relays, fall within telecommunication service rather than Business Support Service. A corrected Board clarification recognised that services intrinsically constituting telecommunication cannot be reclassified as Business Support Service merely because the foreign provider is not a telegraph authority. As foreign satellite service providers were not telegraph authorities, the telecommunication service lay outside the relevant taxable category. The contrary view in an earlier Tribunal decision was inapplicable because it addressed limitation without examining taxability. The Tribunal sustained the dropping of service tax demands and dismissed Revenue's appeal.