Aircel and Reliance Communications (RCOM) have accused billionaire Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Airtel of abusing its dominant position.

Aircel and RCOM have alleged that Airtel has resorted to pressure tactics just days before the festival of Diwali to compel them to pay more towards SMS termination fees.

Airtel has asked its rival operators to sign an interconnect agreement, which asks rival operators to pay 10 paise per SMS sent by a non-Airtel customer.

The two network providers have criticized Airtel after it warned that it would shut its network to Aircel and RCOM across the country, alleging that the two rival operators are spamming its network by free SMSes. A recent report says that Airtel has already shut its network to RCOM only in Mumbai.

RCOM spokesperson said that the timing of Airtel's action showed that it was abusing its dominant position.

Criticizing Airtel's action, RCOM spokesperson said, "The timing of this step on the eve of Diwali reflects Bharti's blatant disregard for the interests of millions of customers and is another instance of abuse of market position by Bharti."

Aircel dragged Airtel to TDSAT alleging that its decision was arbitrary, illegal, wrong, but the tribunal favoured Airtel. Then Aircel has challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, which declined to stay TDSAT's order previous month.