The story so far

A week ago,BSNL disconnected the connectivity between its landline phones and mobile phones of private service operators on the ground that the private service operators had not paid the carriage charges. On September 30,the TDSAT passed an order stating that BSNL “may resume the services”. The TDSAT had asked BSNL to charge the private service operators as it (BSNL) was till May 2010.

The directions were passed since the dispute between BSNL and the operators is already pending adjudication before TDSAT. The difficulty was confined only to connectivity between BSNL landline phones and mobile phones of private networks and vice versa. A dispute arose between BSNL and private service operators after BSNL,last year,had decided to revise its “carriage charges”,which means charging tax according to distance. This was objected to by various private service operators and was reported to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). TRAI had refused to show agreement with the revised plan made by BSNL after which the private service operators and BSNL had moved the tribunal. The tribunal had directed TRAI to review its decision. In its defence,BSNL said it had disconnected only after a month’s notice was issued to the private service operators asking them to either pay up or face the consequences.