The Hindu Business Line : `No licence needed for calling cards'

The Tata-managed Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd has told the Department of Telecom that it did not need Government permission for selling inbound international calling cards.

VSNL has told DoT that selling of inbound international calling cards, to be used by subscribers in foreign countries, was beyond the purview of any Indian licence and therefore it did not require the Government's nod.

DoT had earlier told VSNL that selling of the calling cards was against the provisions of the international long distance licence. Inbound cards are often bought by Indians travelling abroad to make calls back home at cheaper rates.

In a letter to the DoT, VSNL has said, "We would like to clarify that sale of inbound calling cards is not a licences activity and VSNL has been and is now requesting for No Objection Certificate (NOC) for sale of such cards not under any of its licence as such. We would like to submit the fact that the usage of the cards is actually outside Indian territory and has nothing to do with services being provided by VSNL in India under its ILD/NLD licence."

VSNL has further pointed out that the request for grant of NOC was made keeping in view the fact that other players such as Bharti and Reliance are engaging in sale of such inbound international calling cards and perhaps they have been issued NOC by DoT for such sale. "We would like to submit that the sale of international inbound calling cards does not require any licence under the present licensing regime," the VSNL letter said.

VSNL said that it never intended to request for permission for sale of inbound calling cards in the territory of India under its long distance licence. "However we believe that the NOC was not conveyed to VSNL because it was construed that we are asking for the permission for sale of inbound calling cards under our ILD/NLD licence," said the VSNL letter. VSNL in July had sought NOC from DoT for selling Tata Indicom Global inbound calling cards in India, which was not given by DoT. Earlier DoT had also objected to VSNL's outbound international calling cards.

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