Don't Disconnect Rcom & Ttl; Tdsat Tells Bsnl

[Honest 836]

Don't disconnect RCom; TDSAT tells BSNL

Press Trust of India / New Delhi

May 28, 2008, 18:12 IST

In a major relief to Anil Ambani- controlled Reliance Communications, telecom tribunal TDSAT today directed BSNL not to disconnect RCom from its network over payment of access deficit charge.

Admitting petition filed by RCom, which has a dispute with BSNL over payment of Rs 434.97 crore ADC, Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) directed the public sector firm not to disconnect any point of interconnection of the former till further orders.

"There would be no disconnection till the further order," said TDSAT Chairman Justice Arun Kumar while issuing the notice to BSNL.

During the proceedings before TDSAT, RCom alleged that on May 3, BSNL being a government body disconnected it in seven states by flaying interconnection regulations.

The Supreme Court had earlier held that BSNL's 1.6 million WLL phones were mobile phones and it could not levy ADC on RCom for calls originated from their network to the PSU's.

ADC is a levy paid by private telecom operators for meeting the cost of BSNL's unprofitable operations in rural areas.

In the petition, RCom alleged that despite the apex court's instructions BSNL is not settling its ADC account for calls made by RCom's subscribers to the public sector firm's 1.6 million WLL phones.

BSNL is asking RCom to pay Rs 434.97 as ADC on the calls made under its fixed wireless service called 'Unlimited Cordless'. Earlier, RCom was of the opinion that since these phones were base phones there was no need to pay ADC.

However in 2005, TDSAT held that these were mobile phones and RCom would have to pay ADC. This was also upheld by the Supreme Court in April, 2008.

[@ksh@T 20]

what abt TATA they were also to pay almost 300Cr, wd they b dissconnecting or BSNL is planning so

[Honest 836]

TDSAT restrains BSNL from disconnecting TTL

2 Jun, 2008, 1559 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: In a major relief to Tata Teleservices (TTL), facing disconnection from the network of government -controlled BSNL over non-payment of charges, telecom tribunal TDSAT directed the PSU not to take coercive action till further order.

Admitting the petition of TTL, Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal Chairman Justice Arun Kumar directed the PSU not to disconnect any Points of Interconnections (POIs) of the company.

"Till further orders, the respondent (BSNL) is restrained from disconnecting POIs or taking any other coercive action against the petitioner (TTL) on account of the impugned demand," said TDSAT Chairman Justice Arun Kumar. The tribunal also issued notice to BSNL and directed to file reply in four weeks.

In its petition filed before the tribunal, TTL submitted that it has already paid 75 per cent of the disputed amount of Rs 350 crore (approximately) to BSNL in the wake of threats of disconnection from the PSU.

"BSNL may now go ahead and disconnect our POIs for recovering the rest 25 per of the disputed amount," submitted counsel appearing for TTL before the tribunal. He added that some of the calls for which BSNL is claiming levy were not even routed through the PSU's network.

Opposing it, BSNL submitted that actual amount due is much more than the said Rs 350 crore (approx). It was just an estimation as TTL had still not furnished its call data for unregistered calls.

"ADC is calculated on data. For the exact computation they would have to give us figures which they have not provided yet," submitted Additional Solicitor General appearing for BSNL. He also submitted that although TTL is claiming to have submitted 75 per cent of the dues, whereas it was actually around 60 per cent.