Domestic international long-distance operators like Reliance Infocomm and Data Access have accused Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd of denying them bandwidth and access to its landing station.

In a strong letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Data Access has pointed out that "by denying access, VSNL is acting in a discriminatory manner, which is against the objective of a level playing field stated in the National Telecom Policy 1999".

Data Access chairman Siddharth Ray told Business Standard that Trai had issued a notice to VSNL on the matter, and his company was awaiting directives from the regulator on it.

Reliance Infocomm has requested Trai to issue necessary directives to VSNL for providing immediate access to around 6 STM-1 bandwidth on FLAG Telecom's cable, for which a request was made in April 2003.

The company has complained that its request for further access to capacity bought from FLAG has not been allowed by VSNL on flimsy reasons.

Pursuant to a change in the government's policy, FLAG was allowed to sell capacity on its cable directly to operators, instead of routing it through VSNL.

Reliance was one of the first companies to buy capacity directly from FLAG. But it still requires VSNL's landing station to access the capacity.

VSNL executives were not ready to comment on the issue. But industry sources close to VSNL pointed out that the company had signed an agreement with FLAG in January for providing access on its landing station up to a bandwidth of 15 STM-1. FLAG was at fault for selling capacity beyond this level, they said.

"VSNL can provide access up to 15 STM-1, but how can you say it is blocking capacity when FLAG has sold more than it is stipulated in the agreement. If FLAG wants to sell more capacity, it has to renegotiate with VSNL for access to capacity beyond 15 STM-1," a source said.

The sources also said FLAG did not have any or very little extra capacity available on its cable in India. Therefore, blaming VSNL for blocking bandwidth was unfair, they added.

FLAG, however, has told Trai that VSNL has restricted the accessible capacity to 15 STM-1 in their agreement.