Mtnl Favours Lower Tariffs For Std/Isd
State-owned Mahangar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has favoured a reduction in the long-distance and overseas call tariffs.
Our citizens deserve to have an affordable STD service. The current STD tariff structure requires an alteration, MTNL chairman and managing director S Rajagopalan said in his recommendations on telecom pricing forwarded to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
In view of the prevailing high STD tariff, many consumers are not availing of the STD service, which, in the larger interests of the economy and productivity is harmful, he said.
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According to Rajagopalan, a quintuplicate classification of calls is required local network calls (per three minutes), adjacent network calls (per two minutes), intra-state calls (one minute), regional calls (10 seconds) and national calls (four seconds). Further, there should be half rate, quarter rate, one third rate and one sixth rate for all the cases except local calls and adjacent network calls, he said. He said the tariff reduction could be done in phases. In the first stage the present STD tariffs can be reduced by 25 per cent, he suggested. Rajagopalan said there was a need for reducing tariffs on international calls too.
MTNL, which provides telecom services in Delhi and Mumbai, forwarded these recommendations to the Trai in response to the consultative paper on telecom pricing tabled by the authority.
Comments/suggestions on telecom pricing have been forwarded to the regulator by all concerned parties. The tentative proposals of the authority are likely to be finalised by July 1998.
The authority has also decided to table a consultative paper on the domestic long-distance telecom services, where the telecom department is the monopoly service provider. The government is committed to a `review of DoTs domestic long-distance monopoly in 1999, which may lead to privatisation in this sector. The proposed paper will look into the alternative models that could be adopted in the opening up of this sector.
Rajagopalan has also argued for an increased bi-monthly rental of Rs 500, at least to compensate for the erosion of the rupee on account of inflation. The rental should be linked to inflation and be adjusted annually, he suggested.