Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Jan 22, 2003 |
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Info-Tech
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Telecommunications Basic operators oppose access fee on cell calls Our Bureau
NEW DELHI, Jan. 21 THE interconnection controversy between cellular and basic operators that cooled off on Monday is threatening to erupt one again. Even as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has announced that it would be issuing its much-awaited interconnect regulations this week, the private basic operators have shot off a missive to the Chairman, Mr M.S. Verma, stating that they would oppose any move to levy an access charge on calls made from their networks to a cellular network. In a strongly worded letter, Mr S.C. Khanna, Secretary-General, Association of Basic Telecom Operators (ABTO), has noted: "We would like to point out that there is no substance to these demands of the cellular operators. The access charge (of Rs 1.20 for three minutes) was levied on cellular operators because they were given airtime charge both for outgoing as well as incoming calls. There was no airtime charge permitted to the basic operator. This is also the case today. We strongly submit that cellular operators do not need removal of access charge for reducing the tariff of their structure. It is only competition that drives them to drop prices. The present demand of access charge is nothing but introduction of calling party pays (CPP) through the back door". The letter further notes that the regulator should not succumb to "this unjustified pressure from the cellular industry and not burden the users of telecom service in our country with a charge that will only enrich the cellular industry to the detriment of the poor subscriber, which will affect the entire objective of achieving higher tele-density in our country at affordable rates.
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