Sharp Tariff Increase For Basic-To-Cellular Calls

All calls made from basic telecom networks to cellular subscribers in circles (geographically analogous to a state) will be charged a little over Rs 28 for a three-minute call. This compares with a rate of Rs 1.25 per three-minute call at present. However, the new rate will not apply to subscribers in Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai.

The department of telecommunications (DoT) has notified its decision through a letter dated January 29 to the chief general managers of all telecom circles. The new rate comes into effect from February 15.

Recognising the ruinous impact that this decision will have on their business plans, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) yesterday filed a case against DoTs decision in the Delhi high court. The first hearing of the case is scheduled for today.

 

The DoT letter says: The tariff for calls originated from PSTN (public switched telephone networks, as fixed-line networks are called) to the cellular networks has been fixed as follows: the intra-circle calls will be charged at the pulse rate of 8/16/24/36 seconds per unit call, irrespective of the location of the calling and called subscriber.

This means that every call from DoTs network (or that of the basic telecom operator) in a circle to a cellular subscriber will be billed at the rate of one call per eight seconds between 6 a.m to 7 p.m; one call per 16 seconds between 6 a.m and 8 a.m and also between 7 p.m and 9 p.m; a call every 24 seconds between 9 p.m and 11 p.m; and a call per 36 seconds between 11 p.m and 6 a.m.

Further, inter-circle (between, say, Bihar and Kerala) calls will be charged at the pulse rates (number of seconds per call) applicable from the originating trunk automatic exchange (TAX) to the designated notional TAX in the called circle; i.e. the usual STD rate upto the called notional TAX, the DoT letter says. For inter-metro calls, a pulse rate of 2/4/6/8 seconds per call will continue, it adds.

DoTs decision to impose the Rs 28 per-call tariff as different from a maximum of Rs 1.25-per-call at present has come as a bolt from the blue for the operators.

This will upset our business plans because we expected at least 40-50 per cent of revenues to come from calls made from the PSTN to our subscribers, a cellular company executive said. In the initial years, at least 70-80 per cent traffic will be from DoTs network to ours, he added.

On the other hand, DoT officials said the decision to impose such a tariff structure was taken after long deliberations. The tariff structure was arrived at keeping in mind fairness to its own customers, they said.

Explaining the concept behind the structure, a department official said: All circles have only one mobile switching centre (MSC, the equivalent of an exchange in a PSTN network). Take the case of Maharashtra, where the MSC is in Pune. If a Pune DoT subscriber calls a Pune mobile user, it is a local call since switching takes place locally.

But, imagine a Nagpur DoT subscriber calling a Nagpur cellular number. The call will have to be routed all the way to Pune, be switched to the cellular operators network and traverse back to Nagpur. Who will pay the long distance charges for this? he asked. Therefore, to make it fair for all our subscribers within a circle, we have worked this average tariff, he concluded.