Cash strapped Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is of the view that one of the reasons for its reduced revenues is the free SMSes that it make available to the other telecos on its network. It has not been charging anything for the sending messages for the last three years.

According to an official BSNL has yet to decide the tariff for the messages to be charged from other operators, the agreement between the BSNL and private operators make the former charge for these messages.

Thought BSNL took the decision to charge from other operators for the messages in 2005, it kept dilly dallying on the issue because it failed to find a way to know volume of message traffic. It also invested A  Rs. 150- crore equipment that it bought for this purpose could not help it either.