For national long distance calling, the government had proposed 'One-India' in a bid to create uniform call rate across the country and for this it had invited four telecom players.
Apparently, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, Bharti Telesonic and Reliance Infocomm were willing to provide Career Access Code facility for cheaper international long distance calls.
However, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited was yet to install the equipment under the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India directive, according to industry sources. BSNL refused to comment on the issue. The others felt they had to bear the brunt of BSNL's sluggishness.
Telecom companies as well as TRAI are currently not so keen to start the CAC service. In the light of the government announcement, CAC was expected to start in India soon although the exact date was not known.
Under a July 2002 TRAI directive CAC was to commence within a period of three to 18
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months.
He explained that only three telecom companies in India would provide CAC in which users had to dial the code of the respective telecom company using a two-digit code and further dial the ILD number for a call.
"For BSNL it is '20', for Reliance it will be '30' and BTSOL will be dialled on '50'," said one official. VSNL got the code '40'. According to him, a relaxation was given after BSNL pleaded its inability to provide Call Data Record billing.
"Under CAC system customers are billed on a second basis unlike the earlier pulse based billing but BSNL had to invest in new equipment as well as upgrade existing equipment it had sought more time and recently, TRAI had written to all the telecom companies seeking to know their level of readiness on CAC," explained the official.
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