Trai move on port charges irks BSNL

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) is crying foul over the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) proposal to reduce port charges for interconnection by 23-29 per cent.

According to BSNL, private operators are trying to reap the benefits of BSNL's vast country-wide network, while they have to maintain the network spread across the country in odd places.

A BSNL official said further: "The revenue to BSNL from interconnection traffic comes to about 1-2 paise per minute. We send our staff to remote villages who work under tough circumstances where private players are not willing to go. We will contest this proposal in our reply to Trai."

The Trai has proposed an amendment which will reduce port charges by 23-29 per cent for various slabs. The telecom authority has also sought comments from stakeholders in this regard.

"There is a long-pending demand by interconnection seekers that port charges need to be reviewed to align with the current switch and exchange costs," Trai said.

Port is the termination place on a switch or exchange to provide interconnection traffic between the two interconnecting networks.

Interconnection is a major bone of contention between private telecom operators and BSNL. While private telecom operators do not charge among themselves, BSNL charges Rs 55,000 (annually) to give interconnection. BSNL rolled out between 2,000-3,000 interconnections per year.

Private operators have demanded that BSNL should not charge for interconnection and also say that their interconnection applications are delayed by BSNL.

On its part, BSNL said that it will give fresh interconnection applications in a month's time, besides clearing 2,500-3,000 pending interconnection applications within three months.

In a regulation issued in 2001 on port charges, the Trai had said that the authority may revisit and modify the port charges.

These draft amendment regulations also mandate interconnection seekers to place their demand for the required number of ports for every Interconnection on the basis of traffic projection, annually.