New Delhi: In a bid to boost fixed line phone
connections in the country, telecom regulator Trai on Monday removed charges
that a landline service provider has to pay to the other service providers for
transmitting its customers' phone calls - a move that is likely to lead to
reduction in tariffs.
Now, calls made from landline-to-landline or
landline-to-mobiles will not include the interconnection charge, which was 20
paise. Trai has also reduced network interconnection usage charges (IUC) on
calls made from mobile phones by about 30 per cent to 14 paise per call from 20
paise earlier.
The move is aimed at promoting investment in
wireline networks, Trai has said.
"To promote investment in, and adoption
of, wireline networks, so that they may become an effective vehicle for the
delivery of high-speed Internet in the country, the Authority has decided to
prescribe FTC (fixed termination) as well as MTC (mobile termination charge)
for wireline to wireless calls as zero," Trai said in the new IUC rule
issued on Monday.
Telecom subscribers can't communicate with
each other or connect with other networks unless necessary interconnection
arrangements are in place. A telecom company is required to pay interconnection
charges when its subscriber make call to subscriber of other network. The
charge gets added up in final price that a subscriber has to pay.
"The Authority is of the opinion that in
case the MTC is set to zero for wireline to wireless calls, wireline access
providers would be able to provide innovative tariff packages (e.g. flat rental
plans with unlimited or a significantly large number of outgoing calls),"
Trai said.
Similarly, in case the FTC for calls
originating from wireless networks and terminating on wireline networks is set
to zero, this "would propel wireless access providers to offer cheaper
tariffs for wireless-to-wireline calls," Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India said.
Landline connections in the country have been
declining since the time mobile incoming calls were made free. While mobile
subscriber base at the end of 2014 reached all time high at 94.39 crore,
landline connections are only 2.7 crore. State-run telecom companies BSNL
dominates landline phone connections with 62.71 per cent market share followed
by MTNL 13.04 per cent, Bharti Airtel 12.55 per cent, Tata Teleservices 5.98
per cent and Reliance Communications 4.39 per cent.
Videocon's Quadrant, Vodafone and Sistema
Shyam account for 1.2 per cent market share. Landline connections of private
players are mainly meant for providing broadband connections. In mobile
segment, Bharti Airtel leads market with 23.01 per cent market share followed
by Vodafone 18.93 per cent, Idea Cellular 15.95 per cent, RCom 11.26 per cent,
BSNL 8.62 per cent, Aircel 8.33 per cent, Tata Teleservices 7.01 and Uninor
4.62 per cent. Sistema Shyam, Videocon Telecom and MTNL account for about 2 per
cent mobile service market share.
According to a report in The Times of India, BSNL has
said charges will decline "substantially".
"We will pass on the benefits to the
consumers and this can happen from as early as April. The reduction will be
substantial and we have already started working on the proposed tariff
plans," BSNL CMD Anupam Shrivastava has been quoted as saying in the
report.
Apart from the state-run telecom company,
smaller mobile operators such as Uninor has also indicated that they will cut
the tariffs. If the small players cut, bigger players such as Vodafone and Idea
Cellular will also have to follow them.
Overall, the Trai has taken a step that will
be hugely advantageous to customers.
With inputs PTI
