BSNL waives transit charges on pvt players

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will exempt transit charges on the termination of calls to its cellular customers from private fixed and mobile operators that have signed with it interconnect agreements.

However, for operators that have not signed interconnect agreements, the existing method of routing calls through its public switch telephone network (PSTN) will continue, and BSNL will levy transit charges of 19 paise a minute.

BSNL is "no more obliged to provide transit facility through its PSTN to cellular operators for accessing its cellular services. The company will not be collecting applicable transit charges from them," the PSU said in a circular sent to its chief general managers (telecom) and district heads recently.

When contacted, BSNL officials confirmed that operators having direct connectivity would be exempted transit charges. However, if even after achieving direct connectivity a cellular operator wants to use BSNL's PSTN, the company will levy transit charges.

Industry sources were of the opinion that BSNL had exhausted Point of Interconnect (PoIs) capacity in some circles, and this would result in private players being forced to interconnect with BSNL's fixedline network to maintain quality of services.

Moreover, the company would also look at allocating ports on BSNL fixedline rather than its CellOne. This would result in the PSU getting more revenue at the cost of private players.

The Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) had earlier opposed the levy of transit charges by BSNL, filing a case with the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal.