Kochi: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has told the Kerala High Court that it cannot offer landline-to-mobile call at Rs 1.20 for three minutes as it has to pay a usage charge of Rs 0.60 a minute (Rs 1.80 for three minutes) to the mobile operator on a call from a landline to the mobile.

In a counter-affidavit filed in a writ petition filed by Stephen George MLA challenging the unprecedented hike in telephone tariff, BSNL submitted that the writ petition is not maintainable since the Telephone Regulatory Authority of India had already cut the tariff to half.