PSU BSNL received a favourable observation from the Supreme Court (SC) over the loss incurred by the firm due to private operators disguising international calls as local calls.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that such firms should not be allowed to go scot-free. The SC was hearing a petition filed by the PSU against Reliance Communications (RCom).

BSNL had raised a bill of about Rs.90 crore for the period 2004-05 against RCom. BSNL alleged that RCom had routed international calls as local calls by tampering caller line identification.

A bench headed by the Chief Justice S H Kapadia and comprising of Justice K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar.said that tampering of Caller Line Identification (CLI) was a serious issue and one should not walk away by paying some penalty only. "This arrangement should stop. This is a serious matter. You (BSNL) should take steps to prevent it," said the bench.

The SC also asked BSNL to cancel its interconnection agreement with such firms.

The court has directed to list the matter on August 27.