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The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has raised its voice against the Government’s proposal to mandate its employees to have mobile connections from “only” Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL).
In a letter to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on 10 January 2014, COAI, which lobbies for incumbent GSM operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, has said that the move would be “anti-competitive” and would hit the scope to have a level-playing field for the private operators.
“We once again reiterate that any such move would be arbitrary, incorrect and unjustified and would be anti- competitive and against all principles of level playing field,” COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said in a letter to DoT secretary M F Farooqui.
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The proposal came recently from the Government as part of the plan to revitalise the two state-owned telcos as mandating “only” BSNL and MTNL connections for Government employees would ensure revenue for the troubled public-sector telecom operators.
“Proposing preferential treatment to BSNL and MTNL services in Central Government Ministries/Central Government public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies to enhance the revenues earned by BSNL and MTNL,” Minister of State for Communications and IT, Killi Kruparani had said recently.
“However, we believe that our request has gone unnoticed and the government is going ahead with the proposal,” Mathews said in his letter, adding that the implementation of the proposal violates Article-14 of the Constitution of India and against various judgements of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) where BSNL/MTNL have been directed to be treated equally with other private operators.
