NEW DELHI: Those making international calls from India can look forward to lower bills with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) abolishing the access deficit charge (ADC) on outgoing calls to other countries.
The ADC constituted 80 paise per minute on international outgoing calls and with Trai insisting that the reduction must be passed on to consumers, users can expect a corresponding decline.
Trai also lowered the ADC for incoming international calls from Rs 1.60 per minute to Re 1 per minute, but the move will mostly benefit foreign callers or NRIs abroad, calling their folks back home.
A third cut made by the regulator is on the share of adjusted gross revenues (AGR) that operators have to pay as ADC.
This has been reduced from 1.5% to 0.75%. While Trai expects this too to be passed on to consumers, operators pointed out that this would amount to less than a paise per minute on local calls.
The ADC is a charge levied on private telecom operators and passed on to BSNL for it to provide services in rural areas.
The regulator estimates that at the reduced ADC levels, BSNL would get Rs 1,400 crore from international incoming calls and Rs 600 crore from the levy on AGR.
The cuts in ADC, though modest, will be the second cut in telecom tariffs in less than three months brought about by the regulator.
In January, following the TRAI's decision to lower tariffs on roaming call, the telecom operators had reduced long distance call charges.
Following Wednesday's announcement, the largest mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel announced that tariff for international long distance call will be lowered.
A senior official of Idea Cellular also said that the company will pass on the benefit to customers. Other operators are expected to follow suit.
DG of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) T V Ramachandran said the reduction from 1.50% to 0.75% of AGR would not lead to much benefit for customers.
He said the regulator should have brought the share down to zero. He also said felt the regulator should have brought down the collection through ADC from Rs 3,200 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 1,600 crore rather than Rs 2,000 crore.
source : TOI
The ADC constituted 80 paise per minute on international outgoing calls and with Trai insisting that the reduction must be passed on to consumers, users can expect a corresponding decline.
Trai also lowered the ADC for incoming international calls from Rs 1.60 per minute to Re 1 per minute, but the move will mostly benefit foreign callers or NRIs abroad, calling their folks back home.
A third cut made by the regulator is on the share of adjusted gross revenues (AGR) that operators have to pay as ADC.
This has been reduced from 1.5% to 0.75%. While Trai expects this too to be passed on to consumers, operators pointed out that this would amount to less than a paise per minute on local calls.
The ADC is a charge levied on private telecom operators and passed on to BSNL for it to provide services in rural areas.
The regulator estimates that at the reduced ADC levels, BSNL would get Rs 1,400 crore from international incoming calls and Rs 600 crore from the levy on AGR.
The cuts in ADC, though modest, will be the second cut in telecom tariffs in less than three months brought about by the regulator.
In January, following the TRAI's decision to lower tariffs on roaming call, the telecom operators had reduced long distance call charges.
Following Wednesday's announcement, the largest mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel announced that tariff for international long distance call will be lowered.
A senior official of Idea Cellular also said that the company will pass on the benefit to customers. Other operators are expected to follow suit.
DG of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) T V Ramachandran said the reduction from 1.50% to 0.75% of AGR would not lead to much benefit for customers.
He said the regulator should have brought the share down to zero. He also said felt the regulator should have brought down the collection through ADC from Rs 3,200 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 1,600 crore rather than Rs 2,000 crore.
source : TOI