Bsnl Faces Rs 500 Crore Hit, May Join Price War

Faced with a Rs 500 crore hit due to the cellular operators' decision to route their cell-to-cell long distance calls via the Bharti NLD network, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is under intense pressure to reduce its interconnect tariffs substantially.

When contacted, D P S Seth, chairman and managing director, BSNL, said he would not like to comment on the issue at this stage. However, analysts said BSNL has little option but to reduce its rates, which are artificially high. This is despite the fact that the revenue loss is minuscule compared to the Rs 9,600-crore Indian STD market monopolised by BSNL till Bharti