Reliance Communications (RCom) has filed an appeal with the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal to complaint against Bharti Airtel's move to black all toll-free calls from RCom's enterprise.

The two leading telecom service providers are accusing each other of violating an agreement thatw as reached between them in 2007. According to a report, RCom had an agreement with Airtel, which allowed RCom subscribers make calls on toll-free numbers, starting with `1800' and `1860' and RCom paid 52p per call to Airtel.

The dispute surfaced when RCom started cutting calls that were made from Airtel subscribers to a number from outside the country. Airtel claims that toll-free calls starting with 1800 are not to be terminated outside the country as all international toll-free numbers should start with `00800', when RCom had pay Rs 1.10 per call to Airtel.

On the other hand, RCom claims that Airtel is falsely creating a distinction between calls within the country and those terminating outside. "Bharti Airtel does not have any locus standing or any legal right to question the numbering used by RCom or withdraw interconnection agreement for IN services... role of Bharti Airtel as an access provider is limited to handling over the calls originating from its subscribers to RCom at the nearest POI," RCom said in a release.

The Department of Telecom has said that 1800/1860 series is only meant for national calls and cannot be used for international calls and the authority will soon file an affidavit in the TDSAT relating to the issue.