Private basic telephone operators, including Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices, have sought the intervention of the ministry of communication in resolving the interconnection dispute with cellular operators.
In a letter to Pramod Mahajan, minister for IT and communications, the Association of Basic Telecom Operators has said though the matter has been brought to the notice of the telecom regulator, there is no early resolution in sight.
"Every day of delay means denial of service to consumers, and this is contrary to the principles of the New Telecom Policy 1999," the association said.
Lack of interconnection means that wireless in local loop users cannot call any of the 10 million cellular subscribers.
The association has said despite repeated attempts by new basic operators to interconnect with private cellular operators, there has been no headway.
"It is now clear that cellular operators are denying interconnection to basic service operators. The cellular operators are illegally blocking customers of WLL limited mobility from benefiting fully," the letter said.
Reacting to the letter, cellular operators said: "We are willing, able and ready to provide interconnection with immediate effect."
However, the WLL mobility operators have to start paying reciprocal access charges, which they, in turn, force cell users to pay.
"WLL operators have known the commercial issues since January 2001. During this period, many attempts to reconcile interconnect terms on reciprocal basis have fallen on deaf ears."
However, in its note the association has said the denial by cell operators is violative of the basic rights of consumers to be able to freely connect and talk to subscribers on any other network.
The dispute between cell firms and WLL operators arose after cellular operators demanded an access charge from WLL operators, similar to what cell firms pay to WLL operators.
For instance, when a subscriber calls from a cell phone to a WLL phone, he pays Rs 1.20 as access charges over the airtime rate. But when a WLL subscriber calls a cell phone user, he does not pay this access charge.