The Hindu Business Line : BSNL’s plea on roaming charges rejected

New Delhi, Aug. 24 The Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal has rejected Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd’s plea for charging a fee from private mobile operators for terminating incoming national and international roaming calls on its network.

BSNL had said that since private operators were charging a higher fee from international roamers, it should also get a share of the revenue from calls made to its network. Earlier the telecom regulator had disallowed BSNL from taking the fee after which the PSU filed an appeal in TDSAT.

“We are unable to persuade ourselves to approve the manner in which the appellant (BSNL) has tried to introduce revenue sharing in the mutually arrived interconnect agreement,” the TDSAT said.

The Cellular Operators Association of India had also filed a different petition in the same matter seeking refund of the extra amount charged by BSNL after TRAI’s decision. It had alleged that BSNL forced it to enter into such interconnect agreements.

On this allegation, the TDSAT chairperson, Mr Justice Arun Kumar, said: “BSNL being a government undertaking should have displayed a fair and honest conduct and such crucial clause ought to have found place on the main body of the agreement.”

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