"We are very disappointed. We made a proposal to VSNL asking them to offer sops on calls being made from here for the purpose but they have not responded. We cannot wait anymore and have decided to keep them out of the scheme. Unfortunately, this would mean that Indian fans would not be able to take advantage of the promotion. Every other cricketing nation has agreed but its sad that India is not going to be a part of our scheme which in our opinion would have led to a large number of calls being made to the UK," said BT's country representativeChandan Ghosh.

"The fans could call or fax at a given number in UK and their responses would be recorded and passed on to the players or the team wherever they are during the duration of the World Cup. But for this to be a success, certain sops on calls made for the purpose was needed. While other operators have extended these, VSNL has not responded and hence the promo would be confined to residents of other countries," said Ghosh.

VSNL acting chairman-cum-managing director Amitabh Kumar said: "We have not heard anything on this from BT at all. On our own we are looking at finalising tie-ups to provide commentary or a webcast of the World Cup," said Kumar.

The loss is for both the telecom giants. While for BT the promo would have meant a further thrust to its brand-building exercise in the country, where it has already planned huge investments. For VSNL, it was an opportunity to go in for a brand-building exercise on the back of popularity of the world cup.

VSNL has been up against competition in theInternet arena and is pulling out all stops to project a consumer friendly image. It has recently launched a major ad-campaign and has chalked out a detailed marketing strategy to ensure that its existing subscribers stay with it.

Last fortnight, BT had concluded its stimulation programme aimed at increasing calls to the UK from India targetting states like Gujarat and Punjab specifically. BT had then said that it was working on the World Cup promo and would try to do it with VSNL.

Interestingly, both the telecom operators are working on sewing up a joint venture for marketing hubbing services in the country.