Mumbai: In a new twist to the ongoing bandwidth controversy, REACH, a global telecom carrier and landing partner of Reliance Group-owned FLAG, has sought for an extraordinary management committee meeting to discuss "unauthorised" upgrading of FLAG Europe Asia (FEA) cable.

The global carrier wants to discuss "unauthorised upgrade of FEA cable between UK and UAE" as it did not get approval from all 12 landing signatories, which is required under the Construction and Maintenance Agreement (C&MA), REACH said in a letter to FLAG Telecom Ltd's Management Committee.

The letter, addressed to FLAG Telecom Management Committee Chairman Owen Best, also said that the landing parties in India and other places have stopped the upgradation till the matter is "unanimously approved by the landing signatories".

REACH also wants the management committee of Flag Cable system to discuss "a reduction in Operation and Maintenance (O&M) charges paid by the signatories of FEA cable", which they feel are on the higher side, sources said.

It is also planning to move a resolution for "adoption of a equitable method of O&M charging that does not produce cross subsidy by signatories for capacity obtained on Indeferrable Right of Use (IRU)," according to the proposed agenda of the meeting.

The current method of distributing O&M charges is not transparent as the cost is not shared between the signatories on a model, which is proportional to the usage, they said.