Flag flays VSNL over bandwidth

The Reliance group-owned undersea cable major Flag Telecom, taking on the allegations made by Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), said the Tata company had no right to get involved in the allocation of capacity.

In a strongly worded letter, Flag said VSNL was forcing Flag to allocate capacity to its favoured carriers, AT&T and MCI, and was misrepresenting facts.

"Flag's commitment to sell capacity to Reliance pre-dates any request for capacity from AT&T or MCI. VSNL is trying to control the allocation of capacity in furtherance of its own interest by using its physical control over Flag landing station," the Flag letter to VSNL said.

Meanwhile, the telecom regulator said it will intervene in the dispute if the two sides were not able to resolve the matter soon. "We have asked them to discuss but if it becomes a bottleneck then we would intervene," D P S Seth, member, Trai told Business Standard.

The Reliance-controlled company has also told Trai that it will be in a position to release additional capacity of 30 gbps within 60 to 90 days if bottleneck with VSNL is resolved.

"There is enough capacity that can be made available by Flag to all the parties who need capacity. To dispel any apprehension on availability of capacity Flag wishes to reiterate its role as carrier's carrier in meeting the needs of various carriers, IT and ITES industries," Flag has said in a letter to Trai on March 4.

Taking on the allegations made by VSNL, Flag has said in another letter that VSNL has deliberately distorted facts in order to introduce confusion in the matter.