WLL Row Ends; Cell Cos Agree To Interconnect
Two articles plus a side article at bottom
financialexpress.com
New Delhi, January 20: Cellular companies have decided to immediately allow interconnection to private basic players, for their landline and wireless in local loop (limited mobility) service, even as they spoke of further mobile tariff cuts to be announced in the next 48 hours. The operators agreed to interconnect after Union minister for communications Pramod Mahajan promised them that he would request the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to come up with regulations for a just and fair regime. “I am pleased to announce that the cellular industry has promised that they would allow the termination of calls of basic operators including WLL mobile with immediate effect,” Mr Mahajan said.
Cellular operators said they had agreed to provide interconnection to basic players on the condition that the latter would pay access charges as per interconnect usage charges (IUC) decided by Trai. Bharti managing director Sunil Bharti Mittal said, “We have agreed to offer interconnect with immediate effect on an assurance from the government that we will be paid access charges from basic operators with effect from the time of interconnect in retrospect as per IUC terms decided by the regulator.”
Refusing to divulge the exact nature of tariff cuts, an official from a leading cellular operator said keeping with their earlier promise of announcing “further surprises” for their subscribers on a weekly basis, they would announce some tariff cuts.
When asked about Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited blocking calls originating from Airtel and Hutch networks, Mr Mahajan said, “It happened with my knowledge and I did not oppose it.”
The cellular players will also withdraw the case that they had filed with the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) against basic players offering WLL (M) services. Mr Mittal said, “We would be withdrawing the case, for which the required legal paper work will be done tonight.” Earlier in the day, the TDSAT hearing on a petition filed by cellular operators against basic players was adjourned for a day in the wake of cellular operators’ scheduled meeting with Trai and also with the communications minister. The Association of Basic Telecom Operators secretary general SC Khanna said, “We welcome the decision of the cellular operators to restore the interconnect. We are now waiting for Trai’s determination of IUC.”
However, the hearing for the main WLL petition, which was directed to TDSAT from the Supreme Court and which is scheduled for hearing from February 24, remains unaffected.
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Path Paved For WLL Launch, But Cell Players Eye Gains
financialexpress.com
New Delhi: With cellular operators agreeing to provide interconnect to basic and limited mobility service providers, the decks have been cleared for Tata Teleservices and Reliance Infocomm to go all out in the market to woo customers for their wireless in local loop (WLL) services.
However, limited mobility companies may not be able to offer services at the price points they had announced earlier as they will have to shell out interconnect charges for terminating (or putting through) outgoing calls to other operators including cellular networks. The additional interconnect charge will make outgoing calls from WLL and basic services expensive.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is expected to announce the interconnect usage charges (IUC) with in a week. In fact, cellular operators have agreed to interconnect with limited mobility players on the condition that they be paid interconnect charges as per IUC decided by the regulator from the time interconnect is established.
The new IUC regime, once in place, may work towards the advanatage of cellular phones as it will bring cellular services closer to WLL in terms of price points. So far, only cellular companies pay the access charges for terminating their outgoing calls to other networks while basic and limited mobility opeartors do not pay any access charges. After IUC, all operators will pay access charges to any operator who terminates a call and the basic and limited mobility players will have to add this additional cost, in turn, increasing the price while cellular opertors will get an addional revenue in terms of access charges received from other operators and will pass on the benefit to make their services competitive to limited mobility services.
However, it may not be as simple as it looks. According to an industry analyst, any faction of the operators (cellular or fixed/limited mobility) may not accept the access charges recommended by Trai and can choose to challange the decision in tribunal.
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WIRED IN THE LOCAL LOOP? (From left) BSNL chairman and managing director Prithipal Singh looks on as Union communications and IT minister Pramod Mahajan makes a point to wireless in local loop (WLL) player and Reliance Group chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani at Supercomm India 2003 in New Delhi on Monday
Although the companies have already launched their services in the market, the absence of interconnect agreements with cellular operators was working as a major hindrance to attracting subscribers. The sources say that the companies will now unleash their mega sales promotion and marketing plans to start building their customer bases agressively. |
