COAI may challenge TRAI directive on Reliance Communications

Mumbai: The Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI), the umbrella organisation of GSM operators in the country, is planning to move the Telecom Disputes Settlement Authority (TDSAT) against a directive by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to provide interconnectivity to Reliance Communications.

''We are certainly examining legal option and will take a call on this today," GSM operators association COAI director general T V Ramachandran said even as the TRAI issued a second ultimatum to GSM operators, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and state-owned BSNL, to provide interconnectivity to the Reliance GSM network before 21 August.

COAI, however, wants Reliance Communications to enter into a fresh  agreement with the GSM operators as its earlier interconnection pact does not cover the 3-G services it plans to enter.

Reliance Communications, on the other hand, is unwilling to re-negotiate the terms of interconnection, COAI said in a letter to the TRAI.

The GSM operators had written to TRAI about the lack of a commercial agreement with Reliance Communications, which the regulator opted to ignore, they say.

Instead, TRAI issued a second ultimatum to GSM operators, and cited interconnection as a licensing condition for service providers, implying a mobile operator can be penalised for not giving interconnectivity to another based on mutual commercial agreement.

The existing arrangement between Reliance Communications and GSM operators is for the CDMA network, they point out.

Reliance Communications, on the other hand, accuses GSM operators of not permitting interconnectivity over their network and had petitioned TRAI, which had since issued an order on 4 August directing GSM operators to provide access to 'MSC 90', the code allocated to Reliance Communications.  The GSM players were also asked to report compliance within seven days.

COAI, meanwhile, wrote back, saying that a new network cannot work with the 'existing Point of Interconnet (PoI)' and a new PoI has to be set up, and that is possible only after mutual discussions.

''Our member operators are ready and willing to open their GSM network for Reliance Communications but require it to come through an appropriate PoI, as per mutually negotiated terms and conditions,'' COAI said in its letter to TRAI secretary.

COAI also stated that it was in discussions with the new entrants and has sought interconnect agreements from the existing operators.

COAI also said the commercial terms of interconnection for Reliance Communications' new GSM network are different from those offered to the new licensees and the UAS (CDMA) licensees. This, they said, would go against all principles of level playing field.

The interconnect agreements between operators are on mutually-agreed terms and there is a clear provision for review of the agreement in the event of an amendment to the licence and/or regulatory change, COAI pointed out.

''We are at a loss to understand as to how these bilaterally-agreed provisions can be overlooked. TRAI's directive is not only completely contradictory to its earlier stand but also flies directly in the face of the mutually-agreed terms and condition of the interconnect agreement and completely destroys the sanctity of an agreement or arrangement between two consenting parties,'' said COAI.