After the chaos that ensued in Pune with BSNL taking corrective measures to recover its long outstanding dues from the private operators, Haryana circle is the next to suffer. Subscribers of Airtel mobile plan as well as Idea’s services have been left in lurch as BSNL has cutoff connectivity at all POI’s (Point of Interconnection). The customers availing services under the Vodafone mobile plans have also been relegated to similar circumstances. Resultantly, even the BSNL customers have suffered with no or restricted connectivity to all these networks.

Earlier, Tata Teleservices and Reliance had appealed before the telecom tribunal and had obtained relief. The tribunal had requested the state-owned telecom giant to continue providing connectivity. BSNL has argued that this ruling was applicable only to the appellant and hence others should pay up or else be ready to face these interconnectivity issues.

With Idea being backed by powerhouses like Birla and AT&T, Vodafone a worldwide telecom major and Airtel fighting on Mittal’s influence, this issue is sure to spill beyond the telecom circles and possibly into political realms. The COAI is leading negotiations with BSNL on behalf of all the private telecom players but no breakthrough is in sight as yet. BSNL insists that this was a result of lack of response from private sector to the repeated reminders requesting payment of long pending dues. Any guesses who’s been hit the most in this standoff? Unfortunately, it’s again the customer.