MTNL spat with BSNL headed for patch-up

The spat over the carriage of national long distance (NLD) traffic between BSNL and MTNL may be heading towards a reconciliatory note, with indications that BSNL is offering "competitive" rates acceptable to MTNL for retaining the traffic for the rest of the country excluding Delhi and Mumbai.

This means that STD tariffs of MTNL will have the scope to come down in the rest of the country.

Carriage charge is 70 per cent of the cost of STD tariffs of any NLD operator. BSNL is currently carrying the NLD traffic of MTNL for the rest of the country.

But with private operators willing to offer lower rates to MTNL, the NYSE listed company had asked BSNL to offer competitive prices to retain the traffic routes.

MTNL has already issued a letter of intent (LoI) to Reliance Communications Ventures Ltd for carrying its domestic long-distance traffic, other than between Delhi and Mumbai for those calls, which originate on MTNL and terminate on Reliance. The agreement is being signed with the Anil Ambani company and the NLD project with Reliance will be implemented in phases.

When contacted, MTNL sources said Reliance's bid was the lowest for the above specified type of calls and it was negotiating with BSNL to offer lower rates to carry NLD traffic, which do not terminate on Reliance for the rest of the country and they (BSNL) had indicated to offer "competitive" rates matching the private operators, although they are yet to come up with the specific rate for the same.

MTNL sources declined to set a time-frame for when the discussion with BSNL would come to a logical end. "We are progressing satisfactorily," they said.