Uniform call rates within regions

The government wants to implement its OneIndia plan region by region, and not in one sweep all over the country, according to sources in the department of telecommunications.

The OneIndia plan envisages uniform call rates within the country regardless of distance.

But it will not be before two years that telecom subscribers across the country can make calls to anywhere in the country at local rates.

Even though the OneIndia Plan is unlikely to be part of the National Telecom Policy 2005, the government is expected to bring in amendment to facilitate uniform call rates, sources said today.

"For instance, the OneIndia plan may first be introduced in the northern or the western region, followed by others. The disparity in inter-circle calls within a region will be addressed first," an official said.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran is scheduled to head a series of meetings between DoT officials and executives of private service providers and state-owned BSNL and MTNL in implementing the plan smoothly.

This would happen after he returned from his visits to Switzerland, Sweden and Finland, sources added. Maran last week told reporters that all "artificial barriers that come in the way of moving towards uniform rates for local and STD calls would be removed soon".

In the first step towards establishing uniform call rates, the government, in May, had addressed the disparity in inter-state telephone tariffs.

The DoT had announced that calls between Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Maharashtra, and between UP (East) and UP (West), would be treated as local.

But the largest telecom operator in the country, BSNL, is wary of this move. It has warned that the OneIndia plan will severely impact its revenues.

"The OneIndia concept will benefit customers. Our revenues are certainly going to take a hit. We are yet to analyse the impact. We will come out with the numbers after certain studies," BSNL CMD AK Sinha had said last week.

According to Sinha, the PSU will have to consider other means to prop up revenues, if the OneIndia plan was implemented. "For instance, we may be forced to increase the local call rates," he had said.