25.2.15

Call Rates may Fall


The telecom regulator made radical changes to the industry’s tariff structure, slashing by 30% the amount that mobile operators pay to each other for calls made from one network to another and scrapping similar charges for wireline operators — moves that may lower call rates.
A mobile phone operator now needs to pay 14 paise a minute for each call terminating on a rival’s network, compared with 20 paise earlier, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in an order on Monday. Calls made from landlines to a landline or a mobile phone won’t include any such interconnection usage charge (IUC), which was 20 paise earlier.
IUC makes up about 20% of the mobile call tariff that a user pays.
The IUC, which has historically been revised every two to three years, was last amended in 2009 and the matter has been pending in the apex court. “As a significant amount of time has lapsed since the last review, the Authority initiated this review of the IUC regime in November 2014,“ Trai said.

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