Trai To Send Reminders To Bsnl, Reliance

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is planning to send reminders to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Reliance Infocomm to base their revised tariffs on the interconnect usage charges (IUC) regime prescribed by the regulator.

This development follows the regulator asking cellular operators Bharti Televentures, Hutchison and the Birla-Tata-AT&T combine to put on hold their reduced tariffs for national and international long-distance calls, which were announced last week.

Trai had sent a notice to the three cell firms yesterday asking them to list the lower costs on the basis of which they proposed to cut tariffs. Cell firms had brought down their airtime charges from Rs 2.40 a minute to as low as 50 paise a minute.

 

The cellular operators wrote to Trai and justified the 80 per cent reduction in airtime tariffs for STD and ISD calls on the ground that they were facing stiff competition from BSNL and Reliance.

Senior Trai officials said BSNL and Reliance would not be allowed to carry on with the existing tariffs.