Private cellular operators have locked horns with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd over sharing of the revenue earned from roaming subscribers within the country as well as those coming from abroad.
Cellular companies, led by Cellular Operators Association of India, have slammed BSNL's demand of 50 per cent revenue from international roamers saying: "This is nothing but high-handed approach of the public sector."
On the other hand, BSNL officials said the traffic from roamers, whether within the country or from overseas, should be treated separately from the usual interconnection agreement between the PSU telecom operator and other service providers.
BSNL had issued a circular last week to implement new interconnection rates with revised roaming charges from February 1, coinciding with the implementation of new ADC regime. The PSU, however, deferred the issue for one week to ink new interconnection agreement with the cellular operators.
The COAI approached telecom regulator TRAI for its intervention in the matter.
When contacted, D P S Seth, member, TRAI said: "We are examining the issue raised by COAI and a decision in this regard will be taken soon."
Asked whether BSNL's demand was justified, Seth declined to comment saying: "We shall address the issue. This is not a big problem."