Landline STD calls to cost 30% less

Long-distance calls might get cheaper by 30 per cent said Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, after the telecom regulator reduced carriage charges.

“We are working on it and will pass on the benefits to our users. The STD tariffs, if you call from landline, should come down by about 30 per cent. The new tariffs will be announced with effect from April 1,” BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava told Business Standard.

The landline connections in the country have been on a declining spree after high growth in the mobile segment.

On Tuesday, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India announced a cut in carriage charges, which an operator pays another for carrying a call, to 35 paise a minute from 65p. The change is effective from March 1.

Telecom service providers pay a domestic carriage charge when their subscriber makes an STD call on the network of another company. STD calls get routed through a national long distance operator and carriage charges play an important role in determining STD rates.

Phone image via Shutterstock

At the end of December last year, the number of wireline users stood at 27 million against a mobile base of 943 million, according to data from TRAI.

BSNL is the biggest player in this segment with 16.9 million users, followed by MTNL with 3.5 million users and Bharti Airtel with 3.3 million users.

According to telecom experts, the move might increase the usage of landline services but it is unlikely that people will go for new landline connections unless there are more benefits associated with it. Relatively few people call from landline to mobile or vice versa and landline to landline, according to experts.

However, Shrivastava is of the view that it will bring back the lost glamour in landline business.

Private entities are already charging less than 65p a minute, so there would not be a major impact, said Rajan Mathews, director-general of the Cellular Operators Association of India. “The biggest beneficiaries would be (government-owned) Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, which hold the largest landline network. This is being done to increase landline usage,” he said.