.. and meanwhile, the best part of 32 STM-1s worth of fiber is lying dark ... srs http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=61366
Flag, VSNL spar over bandwidth
Posted online: Thursday, December 23, 2004 at 0046 hours IST
MUMBAI, DECEMBER 22: TATA group company VSNL, one of the original investors in the Flag Cable Systems in 1995-1996, has been accused by Flag Telecom Ltd, a Reliance company, of artificially restricting access on Flag Europe Asia (FEA) cable and preventing the ability to respond to market demand.
as another article points out, they're invoking WTO GATS provisions on this -
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/968127.cms VSNL violates WTO norms
PTI[ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2004 07:38:18 PM] MUMBAI: VSNL has been accused of restricting access on Reliance group-owned FLAG Europe Asia cable, which is in direct violation of WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).
and then, REACH, seconded by VSNL, stirs the pot a bit more .. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1159772,0003.htm
FLAG partner calls for meet on cable upgrade Press Trust of India Mumbai, December 19, 2004|16:45 IST
[...]
The global carrier wants to discuss "unauthorised upgrade of FEA cable between UK and UAE" as it did not get approval from all 12 landing signatories, which is required under the Construction and Maintenance Agreement (C&MA), REACH said in a letter to FLAG Telecom Ltd's management committee.
-- Suresh Ramasubramanian (ops.lists@gmail.com)