Telecom regulator slashes network charge by almost 50 percent

India's telecom regulator has slashed domestic carriage charge to 35 paise per minute from 65 paise, down by almost 50 percent, an official statement said Tuesday.

"...the authority (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has reduced the ceiling of the domestic carriage charge to 35 paisa per minute from the existing 65 paisa per minute through these regulations which will be effective from March 1, 2015," said a TRAI statement.

This move would reduce the domestic long distance calls charges or STD calls.

An access service provider in India offers services within their licensed service area (LSA) only. Inter-LSA calls have to be routed through a National Long Distance Operator (NLDO) and carriage charges are what has to be paid to them for carrying inter-LSA calls.