There appears to be no immediate end to the stand- off between Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and private service operators over the non-payment of carriage charges. For,in its report sent to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI),BSNL has said that the points of interconnection between its land line phones and mobile phones of private service operators cannot be resumed in wake of non-payment of charges by the service operators. TRAI,on October 18,had directed BSNL to resume the services immediately and submit a compliance report by October 21. In its three page letter,BSNL has requested TRAI to withdraw its directions and submitted that the services have been disconnected strictly according to the agreement between BSNL and private service operators. BSNL has stated that since the carriage charges were not paid by the service operators,BSNL was compelled to disconnect the services. TRAI is examining the letter sent by BSNL and is yet to take a final call in this regard. We have received a letter from the BSNL who has requested the TRAI to withdraw its directions. The letter is under examination and a final decision will be taken shortly, said a senior TRAI official. In its letter,BSNL has also submitted that it had resumed the services of two private service operators,namely Reliance and Tata after TDSAT (tribunal) had directed the BSNL to do so. However,services with other service operators,Airtel,Vodafone and Idea have not been resumed since only Reliance and Tata had got orders from the TDSAT,BSNL has reportedly told the TRAI. Stating that the private service operators should pay up the revised carriage charges,BSNL has said that despite one months prior notice the service operators did not pay the charges. Meanwhile,confirming that the services have not been restored till now,BSNL Chairman & Managing Director R K Upadhyay said,Based on the advice of our legal experts,BSNL has sent the report to TRAI. It has been over a month since the services between BSNL land line phones and mobile phones of service operators have remained discontinued. With BSNL refusing to resume the services,the problem does not seem to come to an end with immediate effect. Residents of the Tricity - Chandigarh,Mohali and Panchkula - continue to bear the brunt of the stand-off between BSNL and the private service operators. TDSAT (the tribunal) had on September 30 asked the BSNL to restore the services. Referring to the order passed by the Tribunal,TRAI,on October 18,had also highlighted the inconvenience being caused to the customers. Unavailability of interconnection between networks of service providers results in non-completion of calls,causes disruption of service and inconvenience to the subscribers of both the interconnecting service providers and leads to deterioration in the quality of service provided by the service provider and is against the interest of the consumers and service providers, reads the order passed on October 18.
