STD, ILD firms seek cut in revenue share

Long-distance operators, including Bharti Tele-Ventures and Data Access, have demanded for a reduction in their annual revenue share from 15 per cent to 10 per cent in line with the sops given to mobile and basic players in December last year in order to keep ISD calls at affordable levels.

Operators have written to the department of telecom saying the licence fee payable by cellular, basic and unified licence holders has been lowered by two percentage points.

"It is therefore imperative that the revenue share being claimed from the NLD and ILD service providers also be reduced proportionately," the letter says.

Sidharth Ray, managing director, Data Access, said: "On the one hand, the government has imposed an access deficit charge that we are expected to absorb and on the other it has kept the revenue share on the higher side. If they want us to give affordable tariffs then the government has to reduce the revenue share."

Bharti officials said this should be done in order to bring the revenue share being paid by long- distance operators on a par with other service providers and to ensure that NLD/ILD operators are not disproportionately burdened.

The government had reduced revenue share for cellular and basic operators from 12 per cent, 10 per cent and 8 per cent to 10 per cent, 8 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively, depending on the area of operation.

For old mobile licence holders, the government had allowed a further 2 per cent reduction in order to compensate them for the policy decision to migrate fixed-line operators to mobile service provider through the unified licence regime.

The demand from long distance operators is being examined by the Telecom Commission.