Meeting between mobile operators and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd to resolve dispute over carriage charges has not yielded any result. The private operators have now sought the intervention of the telecom regulator to prevent BSNL from carrying out its threat to disconnect links.
“A week after its first threat to disconnect the calls between private cellular mobile operators and BSNL fixed line/ mobile subscribers, BSNL still continues to intimidate the private operators over incorrect financial demands without any considerations towards the consumer interest and the adverse effect on the telephony services crucial to consumers at all times,” said a press statement issued jointly issued by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and the Association of Unified Service Providers of India (AUSPI)
“The industry, in consumer interest, met with CMD BSNL on September 15, to discuss and arrive at an interim arrangement, while TRAI was reviewing the whole issue of Interconnection in consonance with the TDSAT order issued in 2010. However, BSNL has refused to withdraw its notice to disconnect private operators, even after private operators pointed out that the amount claimed by BSNL i.e Rs 165.62 crore, is erroneous, inflated and not in consonance with the “TRAI's Interconnect Usage Charges (Regulation 2009),” the statement said.
The operators said that BSNL owes over Rs 255.76 crore to private players on account of interconnect charges.
Carrier charges are basically fees paid by mobile phone companies to fixed line operators for calls landing of the latter's network. BSNL and MTNL are currently the country's only two major fixed line telecom operators.