Cellcos seek removal of access charges
TIMES NEWS NETWORK ?[ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2002 04:46:21 AM ]
NEW DELHI: The cellular industry has approached Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to remove access charges, the levy a cellular susbcriber pays while calling a fixed line or WLL phone.
The industry is concerned that access prohibits cellular services from being affordable and competitive vis-a-vis WLL.
“The industry was disappointed that rather than adopting international best practices and a non-discriminatory access charge, Trai has now chosen to club the matter with the basic services tariff consultation,” says a letter from the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) to Trai.
This is grossly incorrect as access charge parity lies firmly within the realm of interconnect regulation and has no relationship whatsoever with tariff setting principles of fixed line services, it adds.
These charges, which are a regulatory fiat, are only payable for calls made from cellular phones.
They are not payable when a WLL subscriber calls either a fixed line or a cellular phone, making it partisan, discriminatory and anti- compeitive against the interests of cellular subscribers, alleges COAI.
To prove the impact of access regime on 9m cellular subscribers, COAI has quoted two examples.
First, two mobile users, one using a WLL phone and the a mobile, calling the same fixed line have to pay differntly. This is so even if WLL and cellular mobile users call each other. The cellular mobile subscriber, in addition to airtime, pays Rs 1.20 as access charge to call a fixed line.
In contrast, a WLL subscriber pays Rs 1.20 to the WLL operator with no access charge levy for calling a fixed line, even while calling a rival network.
At the same time, mobile subscribers pay an access charge of Rs 1.20 to the WLL operator in addition to airtime. By contrast, the WLL susbcriber has free access when returing the call to the same or any other cellular subscriber.
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