Cell firms seek changes in inter-connect regime

COAI seeks new distribution of access deficit charge

Cellular operators want changes made in the existing Interconnect User Charge (IUC) regime. Changes they have sought include the termination and carriage charge and the mode of calculation and distribution of the access deficit charge.

In their reply to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's consultation paper on IUC review, the Cellular Operators' Association of India has said that ADC must be provided only to BSNL "and that, too, only for its rural wireline services".

Operators have also called for a revenue-share regime for deficit charge calculations with immediate effect on the lines of the revenue-share percentage for national and international long-distance calls.

"Other modes would be difficult to implement as they could lead to the same problems of misreporting and bypassing," cellular operators said.

They asked for the imposition of ADC on all operators for all types of services (except fixed wireless services), and said the deficit charge be merged with the universal service obligation regime.

On carriage charges, cellular operators demanded that the Trai prescribe broad carriage charges as a ceiling for different distance slabs, but leave it to "access providers and national long-distance operators to negotiate flexible rates based on market forces".

With regard to termination charges, operators have requested that access providers be allowed to negotiate with international long-distance operators on incoming international calls.

The operators also asked the Trai for different termination charges for domestic and international long-distance calls.

"Termination charges for domestic calls should be cost-based, which should be specified as a ceiling, with actual charges left to be negotiated between concerned parties, while the termination charges for incoming ILD calls should be based upon the principle of reciprocity and should be higher than those for domestic calls," the operators said.

They also said mobile termination charges needed urgent revision as these charges were significantly below cost and out of line with international practices.

"Further, with 70 per cent of traffic being incoming on cellular, low mobile termination charges result in the volume of subsidy on incoming calls rising continuously. This is untenable and will seriously harm the interests of service providers and defer the orderly growth of the telecom sector, and thus severely harm consumer interest in the short to medium-term," cellular operators added.