Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has moved the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) against a show cause notice issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The notice accuses BSNL of not adhering to the regulator’s directions on providing interconnection to private telecom operators. In response, BSNL has called into question the power and jurisdiction of the regulator on interconnection issues between the PSU and private operators.
At the centre of the dispute between BSNL and the regulator is the reference interconnection order (RIO), which is a set of guidelines forming the basis of BSNL’s interconnection agreements with other service providers.
BSNL is reported to have stated that the RIO was published within the timeframe specified by TDSAT, with all the changes mutually agreed upon between the parties and overseen by the tribunal. Hence, the RIO cannot be in violation of any regulation of TRAI.
TRAI, however, contends that BSNL published its RIO without prior approval of the regulator, leading to a breach of TRAI’s directions. This, according to the regulator, calls for suitable action under the pertinent clause of the TRAI Act.
BSNL officials say that the RIO was sent to the regulator prior to being published and that TRAI had approved it with reservations on 29 issues. TRAI wanted changes made on all 29 issues.
Subsequently, BSNL approached TDSAT, which suggested that the PSU and the regulator discuss the problem and resolve it. The two parties succeeded in resolving 21 issues. On the remaining eight, the PSU approached TDSAT, which cleared them and passed a judgement to publish the RIO within 90 days, without necessary approval from TRAI.
Interconnection being a crucial concern, TRAI occasionally issues directives and guidelines to streamline the process between service providers. BSNL, which has the widest network coverage in the country, has interconnection agreements with all the service providers.
Of late, however, the regulator has been concerned about BSNL’s deteriorating service quality, especially at the points of interconnection (PoIs) with private operators. TRAI pointed this out in its quality of service (QoS) report as well. In fact, TRAI has for some time been urging BSNL to take necessary steps to improve the congestion levels at its PoIs. The congestion has been alarmingly high in the metros and in some cities like Patna, Agra and Lucknow.
Meanwhile, in another separate development, BSNL has been demanding interconnection charges of Rs 18.4 billion from the other public sector telecom company, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), for the period 2000-05.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has intervened in this matter, and has scaled down BSNL’s demand substantially. DoT has also asked BSNL to reimburse Rs 300 million to MTNL for utilisation of certain network facilities for the same period.
The DoT committee set up to look into the matter has said that, after adjusting the amount due to MTNL and scaling down BSNL’s demand, the net amount due to BSNL for network charges is roughly Rs 2.64 billion. No final decision has been reached however.
