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Telecom tariffs valid till July 31 -- TRAI review to take time

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, March 30

THE new members of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) have ruled that the tariffs/pulse rates and other charges contained in the Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999, will be applicable till July 31, 2000, instead of March 31.

TRAI has clarified that the proposed implementation of the second phase of tariff re-balancing, which was to be implemented from April 1 is being delayed by four months as a proper review of TTO-99 will take more time.

Significantly, the regulator has observed that the review will take into account the concerns raised by the Department of Telecom Services (DTS) vis-a-vis the reduction in call charges for subscriber trunk dialling (STD).

According to a TRAI press statement, DTS has communicated to it that during the financial year 1999-2000, ``the net impact of the revenues of DTS may be in the range of approximately Rs. 2000-2200 crores''.

As such, DTS has requested TRAI to review TTO-99, which prescribes further reduction in long-distance charges with effect from April 1, 2000, so that it does not face additional loss of revenue, curtailing its capability to finance expansion programmes.

TRAI feels that for a proper review of the TTO, it needs to analyse the data from all operators for the entire financial year 1999-2000. Hence, it is not possible to carry out the tariff review before April 1.

TTO-99 envisaged re-balancing of tariff wherein an increase in the rentals was accompanied with a reduction in call charges for STD and ISD (international trunk dialling). This resulted in a change in the revenue pattern for existing operators, includin g DTS and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.

The increase in rentals and the reduction in STD/ISD call charges encompassed in the tariff re-balancing exercise were assessed as too steep to be implemented in one phase. Therefore, the implementation of tariff re-balancing was specified in three phase s.

The first phase began on April 1, 1999, and was to be followed by the second phase from April 1, 2000.