High court turns down Reliance call routing plea

The Delhi High Court today dismissed Reliance Infocomm's petition seeking to stop disconnection by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). Reliance was now likely to approach a division bench of the high court, sources said.

The private operator had urged the court to restrain the BSNL from disconnecting the points of interconnection as it would affect its subscribers. The BSNL counsel said if the company was concerned about its subscribers, it should pay the dues to the state-owned operator.

Earlier, in a letter to the BSNL, Reliance had cited the provision in the interconnection agreement, which provided for the appointment of arbitrators in case of any dispute. It had suggested the name of former Chief Justice of India Justice SP Bharucha as the arbitrator on its behalf.

Reliance said it had been providing home country direct service (HCDS) from May 2004. It said that as per the interconnect agreement between the two operators, no charges other than the national long distance charges were to be paid to the BSNL. Reliance also claimed that it had paid all the charges due under the interconnect agreement.

The private operator said the BSNL was raising a dispute over the HCDS and was treating these as international calls. It claimed the HCDS was in line with the prevailing international practices and also satisfied the norms set by the International Telecom Union.

Telecom tangle

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• Reliance Infocomm had moved Delhi High Court on Tuesday seeking to restrain BSNL from imposing Rs 255 cr penalty on it
• It urged the HC to stop BSNL from disconnecting the points of interconnection, and sought that the issue be referred to an arbitrator
• The court rejected the plea. Reliance was now likely to approach a division bench of the high court