BSNL knocks on DoT's doors after Bharti Airtel issues disconnection threat

KOLKATA: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has sought the telecom department’s (DoT) intervention after Bharti Airtel allegedly threatened to disconnect the state-run telco’s customers if it does not treat Airtel and Tata Teleservices’ consumer mobility business as a merged entity.

Airtel has cited a telecom tribunal order as the basis of operationalising the merger, BSNL said in a letter to DoT.

It noted that the department has not yet taken on record the merger of Bharti Airtel and Bharti Hexacom with the demerged mobility business of Tata Teleservices, and hence sought direction from the government.


“Airtel has threatened that any failure of calls of BSNL customers out of non-implementation of necessary routing changes shall be the sole responsibility of BSNL,” the state-run telco told DoT in a letter dated November 21.

It sought “guidance from DoT since the interest of the company and its customers is at stake” following Airtel’s letter of October 30. ET has seen a copy of BSNL’s letter.

Earlier this month, DoT moved the Supreme Court against the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) decision that mandated it to clear the Airtel-Tata Tele deal. The department has reportedly sought dues of over ?8,000 crore on account of one-time spectrum charges (OTSC) for clearing the merger, saying the demand was based on licence conditions.

The merger was operationalised on July 1 following “TDSAT’s order directing DoT to take the merger on record and approval of schemes of arrangement by NCLT (benches in) Delhi and Mumbai,” a Bharti Airtel spokesman said. “DoT was duly notified… The Registrar of Companies had also taken the merger on record.”

Tata Tele did not reply to ET’s queries as of press time Tuesday.

BSNL, in its letter to DoT, said while Airtel wants BSNL to operationalise the merger, the Sunil Mittal-led telco “has not provided DoT’s letter taking the same on record.” The telco had, in a letter dated July 11, requested Airtel to “share DoT’s letter and also the scheme of the merger,” it said.