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VSNL told to sign ILD pact with MTNL by Oct 1

The government said Tata group-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd had been given time till October 1 to sign an international long distance interconnect agreement with state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

''We have asked BSNL and MTNL to talk to VSNL for reduction of routing charges. If VSNL does not respond by October one then the public sector companies will start routing their international calls through private players, who are providing the services on better terms,'' Minister for Communications and IT Pramod Mahajan said.

However, MTNL and BSNL have already signed routing agreements with Bharti and Data Access as the two were offering favourable terms.

At the time of VSNL's privatisation the company was guaranteed business from BSNL and MTNL for two years provided it matched the revenue-sharing rates of other international long distance operators.

''Five months have lapsed after privatisation but they have not come to an agreement. We will give them a few more weeks to arrive at a decision on providing the same international call rates matching with the other players,'' the minister said.

According to BSNL officials, VSNL may sign such a pact with MTNL only after inking a similar agreement with BSNL.

When contacted, VSNL sources said that although there has been no recent communication to MTNL in this regard, sometime ago when the interconnect discussions were held, it was agreed between MTNL and VSNL that first the agreement would be done with BSNL due to its massive network and then with MTNL.

On Thursday, VSNL chairman Ratan Tata had indicated that the company was keen to reach a revenue-sharing agreement on international calls with BSNL and MTNL.

''If we do not come to an agreeable solution, it would mean a crisis situation for VSNL,'' Mr Tata had said.

Meanwhile, the government is reportedly in the process of granting licence to MTNL and BSNL for ILD operations.

UNI

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