Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is unlikely to participate in the tender floated by MTNL to carry its STD traffic in Delhi and Mumbai even as the NYSE listed MTNL has agreed to pay some of the STD outstanding dues immediately.
Senior BSNL officials said BSNL may not participate as it does not find it lucrative enough to bid below carriage charges of 65 paise, which MTNL wants to get.
The officials also said it would not be beneficial for BSNL to carry STD traffic of MTNL in non-creamy areas below cost. If BSNL does not participate, this will lead to private NLD operator(s) bagging the tender where they are expected to quote lower than the current carriage fee of 65 paise.
Wednesday was the last date for submission of bids by interested bidders. The date has been extended to May 23.
Apart from BSNL, Bharti, Reliance and VSNL are the NLD players at present. MTNL recently bagged an STD licence but it would take some time for the Navratna company to start carrying its own STD traffic.
BSNL CMD A K Sinha said, "We have not yet decided to participate or not and are still examining it".
On the ongoing STD traffic dues discussions between both the PSUs, the CMD said, "MTNL has agreed to pay some amount of the total immediately. We will exchange records for the dues to decide on the disputable amount which remains after MTNL pays the immediate amount."
Sinha did not disclose what amount MTNL will be paying immediately. Sources said out of the Rs 1,062 crore (Rs 10.62 billion) dues for 2005-06, MTNL could pay about Rs 405 crore (Rs 4.05 billion). Apart from this, there are old dues also.
BSNL CMD stressed on the need of regular and routine dues payment mechanism saying it should be done PSU-to-PSU basis as is the case with private operators.
"A committee has been formed which will settle the Interconnect Usage Charges Bill netting each others dues on a monthly basis and it does not allow to acculmulate, leading to disputes. As we do with private players settling the IUC charges per month, we would like to do the same with MTNL. This should be routine affair not needing any outside intervention".
Sinha said on a net basis, while BSNL only has to pay termination charges to MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai, MTNL has to pay both carriage and termination charges to BSNL for the whole of India. Therefore, the dues pile up on the MTNL front.
Earlier, MTNL invited bids for getting a lower carriage charge which may allow it to lower STD tariffs between Delhi and Mumbai. BSNL on its part asked MTNL to pay Rs 1,062 crore for carrying its STD traffic for 2005-06, saying MTNL had not paid any dues for the last five years.
This turn of events had led DoT to hold discussions with them.
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