Tata, Mahajan To Meet Over Interconnect This Week

In a bid to break the deadlock between Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) over the issue of interconnection for carrying international long-distance calls, a series of meetings between Pramod Mahajan, minister for IT and communications and Tata group officials has been scheduled right through the week. The first of such meeting will take place on Monday, according to industry sources.

The move comes after Mahajan last week issued an ultimatum to VSNL that if a solution is not found before October 1, then BSNL and MTNL will route its ISD traffic through other carriers such as Bharti and Data Access which have offered the PSU a better commercial rate than what VSNL currently gives.

According to VSNL officials, the company cannot offer the same revenue sharing formula as what Bharti has offered to BSNL.