The Hindu Business Line : Port charges for pvt telecom players may go

THE Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is likely to exempt private basic and cellular operators from paying "port charges", which run into hundreds of crores of rupees, to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) for interconnecting with its nationwide network.

According to sources, the authority may stipulate that since BSNL is already being compensated for its investments in linking up with the other operators by virtue of the interconnection usage charge regime (IUC) in force since May, there is no longer any need for it to levy separate charges.

The revised IUC, which is due to be announced shortly by TRAI, is likely to incorporate these amendments, they added.

The port charges, which are levied for access to the BSNL network, are currently at the rate of Rs 55,000 per port.

For seamless interconnectivity with the BSNL network across the country, private operators have to necessarily to pay for thousands of such ports, the sources said.

They added that when the port charges were levied two years ago, the argument was that they would offset the huge investment expenditure incurred by BSNL for allowing the private operators to interconnect.

However, the new IUC regime has taken this investment into account while formulating the revenue sharing that takes place between all the networks.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had even dragged BSNL to the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) when it sought to hike the port charges from Rs 30,000 last year.

Since the new interconnection regime is in place, the TRAI can stipulate any changes it deems fit.

Ever since the authority announced that it would be reviewing the IUC regulation, the basic and cellular operators have sought to draw its attention to this anomaly, which has been draining them of sizeable revenues.

While the move to abolish the port charges might not have any direct impact for the customers, it could give the private operators that much more room to bring down tariffs further without taking a severe hit on the bottom-line.

BSNL, however, has been opposing any move to do away with the port charges since it would stand to lose hundreds of crores of rupees.

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Port charges for pvt telecom players may go — BSNL likely to lose heavily