VSNL, Reliance trade charges over landing station dispute

The long-standing spat between Tatas and Reliance on landing stations today reached at its peak as both the firms made allegations against each other over the issue of landing charges and an international tribunal verdict.

In a communication sent as a retaliatory disclosure to VSNL`s last week notice to the stock exchanges, Reliance said that the writ filed by VSNL was aimed at maintaining monopoly in Indian market.

Meanwhile, countering the reliance arguments, VSNL said the company firmly believed that the Netherlands court was really the right authority to decide what is permissible under Dutch law.

"Its unfortunate that the stock exchanges are being used to make baseless allegations. VSNL maintained that its bandwidth prices have always been reasonable and even more so after its recent reduction by up to 40 per cent," a VSNL spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, in its communication to the exchanges, Reliance said: "This action of VSNL is designed to delay the implementation of this award with a view to continuing its monopolistic and anti-competitive practices in India which will harm the ultimate users of international capacity such as ITES and BPO etc due to exorbitant bandwidth prices maintained by VSNL.”

The international tribunal in its award in may this year, directed VSNL to grant access to flag to the Mumbai landing station besides an upgrade of the cable system and access charges that are "fair and reasonable".