Private mobile operators once again approached BSNL to reinstate connectivity at all Points of Interconnection in the wake of a stay order from the telecom tribunal.
The Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) recently held that the private operators shall continue to pay at the same rate at which they had been paying from July 2010. TDSAT has further stated that pursuant to compliance of this direction, the disconnections by BSNL may be restored.
But BSNL has reconnected links of Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices on grounds that the petition in TDSAT was filed by these two operators, and hence, the order was applicable only to these two companies.
“In spite of the TDSAT Order, disconnection by BSNL with the networks of certain private operators continues on the pretext, that they were not party to the TDSAT order.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) believes that this is a blatant case of discrimination amongst similarly placed private operators, based on a misguided technicality,” the association said.
When asked as to why COAI did not join the petition filed by the two players, Mr Rajan S. Mathews, Director-General, COAI, said that since they already had a case pending in the Supreme Court it would not have been prudent to approach the TDSAT.
Carriage charges
The dispute is over payment of carriage charges. While private players have agreed to pay 15 paise a minute, BSNL wants 65-80 paise a minute. Carriage charge is a fee paid by mobile operators to fixed line telephone companies.
“Our member operators have always been duly paying intra-circle carriage charges to BSNL as determined by the TRAI and will continue to do so at the rates on which they have been paying from July 2010. Therefore, we urge BSNL to restore the connectivity at the earliest as it is causing immense inconvenience and hardship to valued consumers all over the country,” the COAI said.