The Hindu Business Line : Pvt telecom cos threaten to stop paying access deficit charges

THE face-off between private telecom operators and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on access deficit charges gained momentum with the basic operators shooting off a missive to the telecom regulator supporting cellular operator's demands for abolishing the charges.

The controversy could lead to disruption in telecom services from September 10 with the private operators threatening to stop payment of the charges. In such an event, BSNL may decide to pull the plug on the mobile operators which will mean that the 30 million mobile subscribers would not be able to speak to BSNL fixed line users spread across the country and vice-versa. A situation similar to when MTNL had denied interconnection to cellular operators in Delhi a few years ago.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said that it was seized of the matter and was studying the communication from the private operators. The regulator may hold meetings with the two sides this week to resolve the imbroglio.

Access deficit charge is a levy imposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on all telecom service providers for subsidising rural telephones. Since BSNL provides the largest number of rural phones, significant part of the fund collected goes to the state-owned company's kitty.

While private operators had been objecting to paying such a charge, the recent tariff cuts by BSNL has added fuel to the controversy with private operators claiming that the state-owned company was misusing the monetary support to "kill competition". BSNL had last week announced a 33 per cent cut in STD rates and a 60 per cent reduction in mobile tariffs making it the cheapest operator in the country. The new rates will come into effect from September 10 and that is when the private operators have threatened to stop ADC payments.

The Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI), representing companies such as Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices, has said that ADC was not required and it was serving to fund BSNL's business interests. "Private operators who are now forced to match the BSNL tariffs would be unable to unload the ADC component on their consumers but still have to pay the same to BSNL. In this, their revenues would take a severe hit," said Mr S.C. Khanna, General Secretary, AUSPI. The Cellular Operators Association of India, on Monday, had said that BSNL's latest price salvo was a cause for serious concern within the entire telecom industry. "Private operators would be unable under any circumstances to continue with ADC payments to BSNL with effect from September 10 since their tariffs - dropped to match BSNL - would not include any ADC component whatsoever," the COAI said.

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