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Our Bureau

Calls made by subscribers to BSNL users

New Delhi , March 16

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has filed an appeal with the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) challenging the order by the telecom regulator, which had directed mobile operators to stop charging differential tariffs for calls made by their subscribers to BSNL users.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had issued a direction on February 27 asking operators in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh not to charge differential tariffs for calls terminating at the BSNL network and other service providers' networks.

Cellular operators have expressed their inability to comply with the order on the grounds that the interconnection usage charges and carriage carriages do not allow them to offer similar rates to all subscribers within the State.

Terming the actions of the TRAI as "incorrect and arbitrary", Mr T.V. Ramachandran, Director-General of COAI, said that the differential tariffs are in place due to various reasons; one of them is that while direct connectivity has been established between the networks of private players in these four States, similar connectivity with BSNL and MTNL is yet to be achieved.

Direct connectivity

In the absence of direct connectivity, a call between the two service areas terminating at the BSNL or MTNL networks involves a significant element of carriage charges, which is not the case in the case of calls between private cellular operators. Taking the specific case of a call between Mumbai and Pune, Mr Ramachandran said that between two private networks the total interconnection usage charge would be 30 paise a minute, whereas if the call terminated at the BSNL CellOne network it would be 95 paise (Rs 1.40 earlier). He said that in view of the significantly different cost structure, a call made from the network of a private operator to the BSNL network could not be equated with a call made to a private operator's network.

In these circumstances, private operators could not be forced to set the same tariff for such calls, as it would amount to treating un-equals as equals.

The TRAI had said since calls between Mumbai Metro and Maharashtra Telecom Circle, Chennai Metro and Tamil Nadu Telecom Circle, Kolkata Metro and West Bengal Telecom Circle, and UP (East) and UP (West) Telecom Circle Service Areas, were treated as intra-service area calls for the purpose of call routing and levy of ADC, operators must conform to the norms.

"It was noted that some of the private operators in the four States had specified a higher tariff for calls terminating in the mobile networks of BSNL or MTNL from one service area to another, falling within the geographical boundary of the same State," said the TRAI order.

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