Cellular operators on Monday fiercely opposed telecom regulator Trai's recommendation to allow internet service providers to offer unrestricted internet telephony services, saying it would be against the basic principle of level-playing field.

The GSM operators lobby Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI), Director General T V Ramachandran demanded that there should be level playing field  and that telecom regulator TRAI's recommendations are against the very basic principle of level-playing field since they allow unrestricted internet telephony to ISPs at no additional cost.

The existing UASL/BSO/CMTS operators have obtained access licence after paying a huge entry fee which is as high as Rs 1,650 crore for all India.

In February, access licences have been issued by the Department of Telecom upon payment of Rs 1,650 crore. Many of the new applicants are still awaiting allotment of spectrum to start the service. Against this backdrop, it is very unfair to allow unfettered access to ISPs.

COAI has also claimed that ISPs should be required to migrate to UASL license.

However, welcoming Trai's suggestion Internet Service Providers Association of India President Rajesh Chharia said the telecom operators should not treat ISPs as competition.

IT industry body NASSCOM also welcomed the move and said that the step is likely to benefit the country's BPO sector.