Reliance replies to DoT

Dot to decide on action over routing international calls

Reliance Infocomm today sent its reply to the department of telecommunications (DoT), which had issued a notice to the company saying it was violating the licence norms by routing international incoming calls as local calls.

Confirming that development, DoT Secretary Nripendra Misra said, "We are studying their reply and the future course of action will be decided in a few days." When contacted, a Reliance spokesperson refused to comment on the matter.

The DoT had given a deadline of 15 days till today to the private telecom operator to explain its position.

Last week, Reliance Infocomm had paid Rs 58 crore to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd as an "interim arrangement" to avoid disconnection of points of interconnection in certain circles.

BSNL had issued notices on 111 locations and also sent a bill of Rs 58 crore as compensation for access deficit charges and other charges.

The state-owned telecom service provider was also analysing the call data at other locations and said that total the bill could go up to Rs 120 crore.

Misra had recently said that Reliance Infocomm might have to pay a fine of up to Rs 50 crore per circle if it was found to have violated the terms of the licence.

The state-owned company had alleged that Reliance was terminating international calls to BSNL's network and treating them as local calls.

It had also said that every such call had resulted in a loss of Rs 4.80 a minute, which it would have received as access deficit charges (ADC) and termination charges.

As per the present rules, BSNL is entitled to an ADC ranging between 30 paise and Rs 4.25 per minute from private operators to compensate it for rural operations.

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• DoT had given a deadline of 15 days till today to Reliance Infocomm to explain its position
• Last week, Reliance had paid Rs 58 crore to BSNL as an "interim arrangement" to avoid disconnection of points of interconnection in certain circles
• BSNL had issued notices on 111 locations and also sent a bill of Rs 58 crore as compensation for access deficit charges and other charges