Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) has recently issued a fresh notice of disconnection to Reliance Infocomm, in case it failed to pay for using the former's network for routing international calls. The telecom public sector unit (PSU) has given Reliance Infocomm a week to make the payment.

Earlier, MTNL had sent a bill of Rs 135 crore each for Delhi and Mumbai. According to MTNL and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Reliance Infocomm has been routing international calls on BSNL and MTNL networks as domestic calls.

MTNL is also examining the GSM (global system for mobile communications) network for such illegal routing of international calls. If more instances are found, the bill might go up. MTNL is also checking the call records for months before May 2004. BSNL too is checking its other points of interconnection (PoIs) for routing of ILD calls as domestic calls by Reliance Infocomm. So far, BSNL has investigated around 350 PoIs across the country.

Both BSNL and MTNL had written to the department of telecommunications and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India against the illegal routing of ILD calls by Reliance Infocomm on its network. DoT had asked Reliance Infocomm to submit details on call records by last week of October 2004. Currently, DoT is examining the call record details submitted by Reliance. Reliance Infocomm has, meanwhile, moved the Delhi High Court against BSNL on the issue of routing international calls on the latter's network.

Reliance Infocomm has claimed that the bill presented by the PSU is inflated. BSNL has argued that there was no need for an arbitrator to resolve the conflict. Instead, the case should be referred to the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appelate Tribunal (TDSAT).