VSNL bandwidth monopoly irks US

The United States has said that Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd's (VSNL) monopoly in international bandwidth market, both into and out of India, was a "serious problem" for US-based operators.

"In India, access to submarine cable landing stations controlled by the dominant international services supplier VSNL has been identified by US operators as a serious problem," said a written communication from assistant US trade representative for industry, market access and telecommunications, Meredith Broadbent, to Trai Chairman Pradip Baijal.

The United States welcomes the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) initiative to develop polices "to ensure that problems related to access to submarine cable systems do not impede the competitive supply of international telecommunications capacity both into and out of India", said Broadbent's response to the consultation paper on IPLC.

The American government has also recommended that the regulator remove any restrictions for resale of IPLC, as this provided important competitive opportunities to new entrants, and contributed to more efficient use of networks by providing greater choice, lower price and stimulating increased volumes of sales.

It has pointed out that the GAS Telecommunications Annex, to which India was a signatory, required member countries to ensure that service suppliers were accorded access to and use of the public telecommunications transport network, on reasonable and non-discriminatory basis.

"While India's commitments with respect to these disciplines are unfortunately limited, the kinds of commitments other WTO members have undertaken and implemented provide useful guidelines for appropriate regulatory goals and policies," the US government said.

It has also been highlighted that the bottlenecks to submarine cable landing stations was of particular concern in the negotiation of the US - Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

The US government has also asked the regulator to "consider the measures undertaken by Singapore.