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Bharti, BSNL row may end soon

Thomas K Thomas

The dispute between the Bharti group and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on the issue of interconnection is likely to be resolved soon with BSNL getting ready to address the concerns raised by the private long-distance operator.

Prithipal Singh, BSNL chairman and managing director, told Business Standard, "We had a series of meetings with Bharti officials and things are moving in the right direction. We expect to finalise the interconnection agreement soon."

Singh said since the issue was being sorted out, Bharti would not have any reason to demand compensation. He, however, did not spell out the details of the arrangement being worked out with Bharti.

Earlier, Bharti group chairman and managing director Sunil Mittal had said the company would approach the department of telecommunications to seek compensation if BSNL did not offer interconnection soon.

Although, Bharti launched its national long-distance operations almost three months ago, it still does not have access to BSNL's 35 million fixed-line subscribers because no interconnection agreement is in place between the two operators.

Once the interconnection agreement is signed between them, Bharti will be able to offer its long-distance services to BSNL's subscribers. At present, Bharti's long-distance services are offered only to cellular subscribers.

Private basic operators also have not interconnected with Bharti because they are demanding a higher revenue share than the 25 per cent offered by Bharti.

Singh said BSNL was also looking at resolving interconnection issues with private basic and cellular operators in terms of providing interconnection points at convenient locations.

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