Termination charges review consultation paper in Dec: Trai

Under pressure to review the five-year-old termination charges early, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today said it would issue a consultation paper on the issue in December.

Citing reasons for the delay, saying there is a complex interplay of internconnection usage charges (IUC) with many other issues, of which termination charge is a component, Trai said it attaches highest priority and emphasis to the objective of reducing domestic tariffs, meeting consumer interests and spurring sustained growth.

"As per the initial work-plan of Trai, it is planned to issue a consultation paper in December 2008," Trai said.

It said in view of the explosive growth of the sector and multiplicity of operators and services, any attempt at review of IUC would be a very involved exercise. It needs to take into account often conflicting views of the stakeholders and also reconcile a number of conflicting issues.

MTC, one of the components of IUC, is payable by one service provider to the other for usage of the network elements for origination, transit or termination of calls. Access Deficit Charge has also been reviewed, along with IUC, but has now been abolished.

"All these charges go towards making call charges and are therefore to be looked at comprehensively for any meaningful review. There is no shortcut to this exercise," said the regulator, which received Department of Telecom's reference to review mobile termination charges in June this year.

Trai has said that British regulator Ofcom initiated initial consultation on termination charge in June 2005 and detailed consultation in March 2006, and the regulatory statement was finally issued in March 2007.

"A comprehensive review of IUC regime, including MTC, has now been taken up to meet the industry and consumer expectations," Trai said.