AUSPI seeks cut in mobile termination charges

Country's CDMA operators association Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI), has sought reduction of termination charges, stating that it has drastically plunged due to exponential increase in the minutes owing to manifold rise in subscriber base.

Termination charge above the actual cost leads to market distortion. Lower termination charges bridge digital divide, the association in a letter to the TRAI Chairman Nripendra Misra said.

The telecom subscriber base has increased substantially resulting into an exponential increase in minutes.

The current level of minutes has drastically brought down the cost of termination, which should typically lie in between a range of Rs 0.06 per minute and Rs 0.11 per minute.

This cost is calculated on the basis of data for 2007-08.

The projected cost for the financial year 2009-10, would be even lower than this as the established operators would achieve a higher capacities.

Therefore, the termination charge including license fee and spectrum fee should not be more than 10 paise per minute.

AUSPI's stand is at complete variance with that of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which has sought an increase in the termination charges.

COAI the GSM operators' body has called for a cost-based formula for mobile termination charges (MTC), which means a hike. The present MTC, which is levied by operators on other service providers for terminating calls on their network, is 30 paise per minute.

The established telecom operators, like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar and Idea Cellular, among others, are seeking a lower MTC, while new licencees want a reduction.