International Calls At 50ps/min?

[vvinayakpai 26]

Monday, Feb 16, 2009

Cross-country phone call for 50 paise a minute?

R.K. Radhakrishnan and M. Dinesh Varma

‘India Golden 50’ scheme soon

CHENNAI: A cross-country phone call for 50 paise a minute? Yes, state-owned telecom giants are all set to make this a reality from later this month.

The scheme, “India Golden 50,” will make Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A. Raja realise his dream of lowering the call charges to lower levels.

The local call rates charged by operators now vary from just under 50 paise (within an operator’s own network) to Re.1, and national call rates from Re.1 to Rs 2.65 a minute.

Mr. Raja had often asserted that the tariffs could come down to a level of 20 paise a minute for local calls and 50 paise for STD calls. It was not necessary for a central authority to fix the charges, he had contended. In line with this, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had been following the practice of forbearance. Hence, the tariffs are determined by market forces and not fixed by the regulator.

The Minister said here on an earlier occasion that the country needed another 300 million telephone lines and there was scope for the business to reach 750 million connections.

The mobile user’s wait to embrace the next level of communication appears to be nearing its end with the Government of India finalising the tentative dates for the national launch of 3G services through Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) from Chennai from February 23.

The Chennai Telephones has already set up 23 Base Transceiver stations (BTS) across the city. The management has reserved two BTS to facilitate the formal launch of 3G in the country. These BTSs would be set up in accordance with the convenience of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, who is now undergoing treatment at the Sri Ramachandra hospital.

BSNL officials propose to facilitate the launch either from the hospital, the Chief Minister’s Gopalapuram residence or the Secretariat. The plan is to have Mr. Karunanidhi make the first 3G call to Mr. Raja, who would be at the “Hall of Inspiration” at the BSNL complex on Anna Road.

Mr. Raja would be able to see Mr. Karunanidhi and the image would be put on a projector for the benefit of a select gathering of BSNL’s top brass and the media, it is learnt.

The 3G launch would add to the list of firsts that the Chennai Telephones has been achieving.

[ravi_patent 28]

seems to be a typing error in the heading

as of now termination charges themselves are around 50 to 65 paise in respect of std calls . so how to quantify soon is the key point. Morganstanley recently estimated that tariffs will fall to 45 paise by fy 2011 (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Morgan_Stanley_downgrades_telecom_Ind/articleshow/4123304.cms)

Edited February 17, 2009 by ravi_patent

[Mufaddal 678]

well looking at how the process of 3G is going on i dont think this thing will be a near reality

[kshah 452]

seems to be a typing error in the heading

as of now termination charges themselves are around 50 to 65 paise in respect of std calls . so how to quantify soon is the key point. Morganstanley recently estimated that tariffs will fall to 45 paise by fy 2011 (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Morgan_Stanley_downgrades_telecom_Ind/articleshow/4123304.cms)

Morgan stanely or such reports and research are all hoax. They are not authority. They just work for some or other wasted interest always.

I heard about this 6 months back from very top official of Airtel, he mentioned me on flight that "government wants local calls at 20 paise, STD at 50 paise and ISD less than 1 rupee. Its operators who are objecting."

[vvinayakpai 26]

seems to be a typing error in the heading

as of now termination charges themselves are around 50 to 65 paise in respect of std calls . so how to quantify soon is the key point. Morganstanley recently estimated that tariffs will fall to 45 paise by fy 2011 (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Morgan_Stanley_downgrades_telecom_Ind/articleshow/4123304.cms)

Morgan stanely or such reports and research are all hoax. They are not authority. They just work for some or other wasted interest always.

I heard about this 6 months back from very top official of Airtel, he mentioned me on flight that "government wants local calls at 20 paise, STD at 50 paise and ISD less than 1 rupee. Its operators who are objecting."

the termination costs for STD calls is a maximum of 65ps per minute. SO that means it is anything between 0 to 65 ps for any operator based on the contract it has entered into with other operators. It works out better for larger players who have National Long DIstance (NLD) networks throughout the legth and breadth of the country like RCOM, AIrtel, IDEA etc. It is the smaller players who suffer because they have to lease NLD networks from these larger operators or other non telecom NLD license holders, thus affecting their margins drastically.

If there is a review of local termination rates for which a consultation paper has also been launched by TRAI, I am sure that over a period of time the termination rates for STD and ISD calls will also be reviewed.

[ravi_patent 28]

dear kshah

i dont know abt Morgan stanley with authority but it is a fact that call rates will drop.just as assumed them to have vested interest there will be others having their own interest and get prepared reports like this(http://www.rimweb.in/forums/index.php?showtopic=17884&hl=). probably the realty lies some where in between .yes like you all of us are frustated with the pace of happenings in this sector nevertheless telecom reforms are and will continue to yield some benefits to us .

[Asit 4]

government wants local calls at 20 paise, STD at 50 paise and ISD less than 1 rupee. Its operators who are objecting.

trying to create vote bank or should I say vote banks.

[kshah 452]

No we should not be cynical for every thing. If government (which ever) do not do every thing wrong. They do many right things. Termination charges will drop and we must appreciate DOT / TRAI and GOI for sucessful implementation of CPP regime, which is not as successful as India at many very well developed places.

[savramesh 37]

What is this termination charges ? why is it called so ?

[ashoksoft 83]

@sarvamesh : an operator normally earns on an incoming calll... when a call originates from say operator "A" and terminates on operator "b", A pays B for terminating the call on the recipient network. This charge is termed as termination charge. The network "A" will charge its end customer an amount "x" which will be a total of : termination charge paid + tax + infra. cost + VAT

cheers

karki

[ravi_patent 28]

@savramesh

and virgin is paying from these termination charges earned

[savramesh 37]

Thanks, now i understood..

[santhoshavanoor 7]

If it will happen, then customers will happy. But my request to authorities is remove roaming charges between states and metros. We need to treat our country as one.

Now a days zain(Bahrain) is offering free roaming in 32 countries including their own networks in these countries and with other operators..