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TRAI clearing the decks for cheaper long distance calls — Plans 4 per cent revenue share for ADC

Thomas K. Thomas

New Delhi , Feb. 8

IN a bid to pave the way for cheaper long distance calls, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is working out the details of the revised Access Deficit Charge and Interconnect Usage Charge, which include allowing access providers the flexibility to charge a higher commission (termination rate) on incoming international long distance calls.

This would enable the Indian operators to negotiate with international carriers to carry outgoing ISD calls at cheaper rates.

At present, Indian operators are allowed a flat termination charge of 30 paise a minute, which the TRAI is considering to increase up to Rs 3 a minute for incoming ISD calls. As per international norms, access operators can charge up to 34 cents (Rs 15.30) a minute.

"When the international operators are demanding high termination charges for calls terminating in their countries and these rates, we believe, have further gone up recently, we fail to see why Indian operators should be deprived of a benefit permitted by ITU (International Telecommunication Union) and international practice," said the Cellular Operators Association of India.

Operators have also said that a higher termination charge would encourage them to put in place necessary checks and balances to distinguish between various types of calls and check grey market traffic. The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd is also supporting the move.

Revenue share: The telecom regulator is also considering introducing a revenue share of 4 per cent of the operator's annual revenues to be collected as Access Deficit Charges. As per the existing regulation, ADC is collected on a per minute basis from each call made by cellular subscribers. The amount collected is passed on to BSNL in order to fund its rural telephony projects.

The move to a revenue share regime will clear the decks for OneIndia STD calls at Re 1 a minute and also cheaper local calls as the burden of the subsidy will not be loaded on the call tariff but on the overall revenue generated by the operator, similar to the way the Universal Services Fund is collected at present.

International calls may, however, continue to attract ADC on a per minute basis though the rate is likely to be lowered from the existing levels by a rupee. TRAI has already asked operators for separate accounts for each type of service offered and the data on ISD traffic will enable implementation of the dual policy on ADC collection.

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TRAI clearing the decks for cheaper long distance calls — Plans 4 per cent revenue share for ADC