TRAI to reduce ADC, telephone tariffs to plunge again

New Delhi, Jan 30 (UNI) Telephone tariffs in India, one of the lowest in the world, are set to fall further with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) gearing up to reduce the Access Deficit Charge (ADC).

Top ranking sources in TRAI told UNI that it had already taken a decision last year to reduce ADC as it is a depleting regime.

''Since one year expires in March, the first step would be to set up consultation with operators and open house discussions,'' the sources added.

ADC cuts by TRAI had earlier resulted in reductions in domestic (STD) tariffs and also in both incoming and outgoing international calls with the operators passing on the benefits to the subscribers.

But the move will draw flak from BSNL as it is a levy paid by all telecom operators to BSNL and this allows the PSU to subsidise its rural operations and fulfil its social obligations.

Currently all operators pay 1.5 per cent of their annual aggregate gross revenues (AGR) to BSNL as ADC. BSNL also earns an ADC of Rs 1.60 per minute for all incoming international calls to India and Re 0.80 per minute for every outgoing ISD call.

TRAI had last year fixed the ADC at Rs 3,335 crore for 2006-07, from Rs 5,340 crore the previous year. This has enabled all operators, including BSNL, to reduce long-distance tariffs and implement OneIndia call rates that is STD at Re 1.

The regulator had also done away with the per minute ADC for domestic calls.

If BSNL needs subsidy from April 2008, it will have to turn to the universal service obligation fund. ''The ADC regime cannot continue in perpetuity.'' All operators pay 5 per cent of their AGR towards the USO fund, which is also used to support rural telephony.

The telecom regulator recently slashed roaming charges by 22 to 56 per cent at Rs 2.40 for outgoing STD and Rs 1.75 for incoming calls making it more affordable for the mobile user as the new tariffs are simple, transparent and distant neutral.

The new roaming rates will be effective from February 15.

Also, there will be no rental in any form either monthly, weekly or daily, TRAI said after two months of deliberations with various stake-holders including mobile operators who have not contended these new tariffs.

The move comes after the Authority have found roaming market to be lacking in competition. It went through a detailed consultation process and set up several open house discussions before coming out with the order.

The move will also promote inter-state trade.

At present mobile user is charged a rental of Rs 50 for national roaming services. For a GSM subscriber the charge of an outgoing call can be up to Rs 3.99 per minute, while a CDMA user is charged anywhere from Re 1 to Rs 3.99.

For both users, service operators charge a maximum of Rs 4 for SMS within the country.

UNI