Calls through net allowed, rates could fall by up to 80%

Good News To Everyone Please read this TOI Article
Shalini Singh TNN
New Delhi: Thought call charges couldn’t get any cheaper? Think again. Soon, you could be calling friends abroad for just Re 1 to 2 per minute, a sharp drop from the present average of Rs 7/minute. National long distance rates could drop to 30-50 paise per minute, against Rs 1-2 at present. And local calls could be virtually free, at just about 30 paise per minute, against today’s Re 1. But how has this stunning reduction become possible? Consumers have Trai to thank. The telecom regulator has thrown open the voice market to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), ushering in the promise of between 40% and 80% lower voice tariffs. With this, Trai has — in a single stroke — destroyed some of the last regulatory barriers to advanced and cheaper technology. The regulator acted on its own, without being asked to do so by the department of telecom. But hold on a moment. Couldn’t you already make calls over the internet? Yes, but only over net-enabled PCs. You couldn’t terminate internet telephony calls on fixed and mobile networks and vice-versa. Trai has now made it possible to do so. And with ISPs set to hammer rates down to a new low, mobile service providers will be left with little choice but to follow suit. It gets better. All call charges today include a 30-paisa interconnection cost (fixed tariff paid by an operator when he uses another operator’s network for his customers). Trai is revisiting these rates as well, and any reduction will also be passed on to consumers, which means even lower tariffs. Happily, DoT, which could have been the only roadblock, 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 TOI. Not everyone shares that sentiment. While the ISP Association of India (ISPAI) rejoiced, the GSM association, COAI, said the move violated level playing field issues as mobile operators pay a considerably higher entry fee compared to ISPs.