Date:26/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/06/26/stories/2006062602891700.htm

Back International mobile call charges may fall

Our Bureau

Scope less for reduction in domestic call rates

Coimbatore , June 25

The issue of tariff reductions for the international mobile calls has been taken up with foreign operators and the rates might soften in the future, according to Mr P. Swaminathan, CEO, Mobility, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Tamil Nadu.

However, domestic call rates have more or less bottomed out and there would be no significant reduction in call rates, through there could be minor rate adjustments depending on traffic growth, he said.

ILD Rates

Asked at a news conference here on Friday as to what was the response of the international mobile phone operators to the suggestion made by the Union IT and Communications Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, at a recent conference to reduce international tariffs, he said ILD rates to many countries had already come down. Under some mobile plans, calls to US were charged at Rs 2.99 a minute. The ILD rates today were lesser than what they were a few months ago.

Tariff Reduction

Replying to a question as to whether the international operators in countries where the charges were high were willing to consider the request to lower the tariff and whether the Indian mobile companies had taken up the issue with them, he said the Minister was also visiting other countries and the `push is there' (for tariff reduction). He said: "What we can do ourselves we are doing and what has to be done by the other side to bring down the cost will happen." When asked whether his company had taken up this issue with foreign operators, he said: "Definitely". Everyone was waiting to know what would be the volume growth and the question was when they would do it. Even in case of the Gulf region, the call rates have come down.

Further Reduction

Commenting on the domestic mobile tariff, he said while India offered the cheapest mobile call rates, the rates in Tamil Nadu were the lowest in the country. Whether the domestic call rates have bottomed out was dependent on people's usage level. If the usage increased further, since the country's mobile penetration levels were still low at about 12-13 per cent, there might be some more benefit. But any future fall in rates would not be so drastic as it had happened in the past few years.