The Hindu : New phone tariffs could leave consumers bleeding

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

New phone tariffs could leave consumers bleeding

By C. Maya

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM APRIL 29. Come May 1, your `Hello' is going to cost you more.

With the revised basic telecom tariffs and the Interconnect Usage Charge (IUC) or access charge regime, proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) set to roll on May 1, consumers are bracing themselves for the steep upswing in call charges.

On the flip side of it, the `misuse' of telephone will come down, with high monthly bills forcing people to use their phone sparingly.

The immediate effect of the new changes in the sector is that the urban fixed or basic phone subscribers of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL), who were being charged a monthly rent of Rs. 250, with 150 free calls would now have to opt for any one of the four tariff packages that the public sector giant is offering.

The four new tariff packages of the BSNL for basic phone service have been designed on the basis of actual phone usage, the catchline being, `The more you talk, the less you pay'.

For the ordinary consumer, the new tariffs mean higher rental charges, less number of free calls and lowered pulse rate, which could result in higher monthly bills. However, high-use subscribers and those who make a lot of long-distance calls stand to benefit from the new tariffs, BSNL officials say.

The BSNL is offering a Standard package in which the urban consumer pays Rs. 250 as monthly rent, with 30 free calls. Under Economy package, the monthly rent is Rs. 350, with 150 free calls. Consumers opting for Special package pays Rs. 750/month as rent, with 600 free calls. The BSNL Super package has fixed Rs. 1,650 as monthly rent, with 1,800 free calls.

``The subscriber can choose the package that suits him, after checking his usage pattern from previous phone bills. Consumers who do not make any special options will automatically fall into the Standard package,'' BSNL sources say.

They point out that for a high-use subscriber, it would make sense to opt for the Super package, because with 1,800 free calls being offered, his monthly bill would not be more than the rental charges.

For high-use subscribers, the reduction in STD rates should be a relief. Internet users using dial-up network too have reason to rejoice, for the pulse rate for calls to Internet Service Providers during off-peak hours (10-30 a.m. to 6-30 a.m.) has been revised from 360 s to 600 s. Night surfers on the Net can look forward to unlimited surfing at Rs. 7-20/hour.

The pulse rate is the same, 180 s, for local calls (within 50 km.) from a land-to-land phone. The fixed WLL is also being treated on par with the land phone.

The glitch comes when the calls are made from a land phone to other services such as a WLL (mobile) or a cell phone, when access charge becomes operational. The pulse rate for local calls made from a land phone to a WLL (M) has been slashed from 180 seconds to 90 seconds, while this has come down to just 30 s for calls made from land to cell phones or WLL (M).

This means that for a three-minute local call from land to mobile phone, for which you were paying just Rs. 1.20, you would now have to pay Rs. 7.20!

In effect, once the IUC regime comes into effect on May 1, there will be no difference in charges whether local calls are made from land to mobile or from mobile to mobile, whichever operator the calls are made from.

BSNL officials admit that these are major changes in the telecom sector, which could result in net loss for consumers.

The IUC or access charge is a charge levied by operators to connect a call from one network to another. So far only cellular operators were paying this charge. But thanks to cell operators who were crying foul, TRAI has also brought in basic operators like the BSNL within the ambit of the IUC regime, to create a `level playing field for all operators'.

``The IUC regime operates on `calling party pay' system. With TRAI falling in line with this argument favoured by cellular operators, the BSNL has no option but to collect access charge from consumers. The decision will harm the interests of over four crore land phone subscribers in the country, who will have to pay heavy bills for calls made to cell phones ,'' a BSNL official says.

Almost all cell phone subscribers also have land lines. There are more number of land phones than cell phones. Also, more than 70 per cent of the calls to a cell phone are from land phones.

The decision to collect access charge from land phone subscribers calling to cell phones are thus likely to affect all consumers, it is pointed out.

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