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BSNL to be a third party in TRAI, COAI dispute

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI: The telecom tribunal today issued notice to state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to be a third party in the ongoing dispute between the cellular operators and the telecom regulator on differential tariffs.

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The Telecom Disputes Settlement And Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) today rejected the Cellular Operators' Association of India's (COAI) request for stay on the regulator's order on differential tariffs.

However, TDSAT chairman, N. Santosh Hegde admitted the cellular operators association's plea that BSNL be made party to the dispute on the ground that the telecom PSU would be a major beneficiary once the new order is implemented.

The tribunal directed BSNL officials to be present at the next hearing on March 22.

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COAI said that if they implemented TRAI's order the charges would go up and the customers would suffer in return. COAI's counsel argued that the total interconnection usage charge between Mumbai and Pune is 30 paise per minute between private operators, while same on the BSNL cost 95 paise per minute (This was earlier Rs 1.40 per minute).

The counsel stated that in view of the 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 cellular operator's network.

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

© CyberMedia News

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