Local calls to be almost free

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 21 August 2008, 00:04 IST
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New Delhi: As Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has provided the right to offer voice services to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) the call tariff rates are expected to come down between 40 percent and 80 percent. The average rate to call abroad is now 7 per minute which may drop to 1 or 2 and the national long distance rate and local call rates are also expected to come down by using internet telephone service. When ISPs are offering calls on low tariff, mobile phone operators in the country may also force to reduce the rates. TRAI is also looking to review the interconnection cost (fixed tariff paid by an operator when he uses another operator's network for the customers), hence a further decline in the call tariffs is possible. Moreover, Department of Telcom (DoT) has welcomed the move. "TRAI deserves credit for a wonderful job. We welcome any step towards liberalization and deregulation and are happy to embrace this recommendation," S Behura, Secretary, DoT, told to The Times of India. At the same time, the GSM operators are not in a position to welcome the move. The Cellular Operators Association of India, COAI, mentioned that the move has violated level playing field issues as mobile operators pay a considerably higher entry fee compared to ISPs. But when taking the huge consumer benefits, the opposition of GSM operators may not have an impact on TRAI's move.