The Hindu : BSNL justifies new phone rates

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 08, 2003

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National

BSNL justifies new phone rates

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 7. Prompted by the uproar in Parliament, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) today justified its new tariffs following a late evening meeting convened by the Communications Minister, Arun Shourie.

In a late night release, BSNL pointed out that there was no change in the local call pulse rate for fixed to fixed network and monthly rentals. On the other hand, STD tariff within circles had reduced and the circle-to-circle rates maintained. Internet rates during off-peak hours had also become much cheaper with a 10-minute pulse.

However, BSNL was at pains to justify charges of Rs. 2.40 a minute for calls from fixed to cellular phones. It said that paying two times the earlier rate for a 60-second call was better than the fears expressed about paying three times the earlier tariff.

Meanwhile, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is understood to have begun an in-house review of the interconnect user charges (IUC). "The TRAI's IUC calculations suffer from serious analytical integrity," said an industry source. IUC is the amount paid by one phone company to another for each outgoing call. The TRAI's IUC rates have caused much heartburn among telecom companies for varying reasons.

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