The Hindu : Mahajan to intervene as telecome war hots up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 18, 2003

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Mahajan to intervene as telecome war hots up

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI JAN. 17. The Telecom Minister, Pramod Mahajan, was briefed today on the ongoing telecom war and is expected to intervene on his arrival here from abroad on Monday. The conflict has entered a dirty phase with the Capital's cellular subscribers complaining of tardy connections with landline phones.

Mr. Mahajan is expected to meet the main players in the cellular and limited mobility camps before two crucial hearings in the day. On Monday, the Telecom Dispute Tribunal will hear a plea by cellular companies. The eight-company front has complained that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is "forcing it to illegally accept limited mobility calls through the backdoor,'' that is, through the BSNL\MTNL network. A third development is the reported threat by BSNL and MTNL to disconnect with cellular companies if they continue blocking "third party'' calls.

The cellular companies reiterated the existing offer for immediate interconnection with all the limited mobility companies provided there was a "fair and reciprocal interconnect arrangement.'' In other words, they are willing to pay Rs. 1.20 per 3 minutes as access charges to BSNL\MTNL for entering their networks. But they are not prepared to extend this consideration to WiLL companies with which they insist on a negotiated settlement. They also feel that BSNL and MTNL should not "let themselves get dragged into this matter and act responsibly.'' But this hope seemed to be getting belied as Airtel and Hutchison-Essar said their subscribers were not able to get through landline telephones of MTNL.

On the other hand, limited companies feel that they are the injured party. They have just started services and deserve consideration from the established players. The HFCL said that though there is an interconnection pact with Bharti, its calls are being blocked in Punjab. The Tatas approached TRAI with a similar complaint. A directive was issued by TRAI stating that blocking of calls, for whatever reason, was anti-consumer and the companies which continued to do should be prepared to face the consequences.

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