TRAI, govt have a tiff over tariffs

New Delhi: STD and ISD calls may soon become a lot cheaper as the government is planning to reduce the amount of access deficit charge.

Access deficit charge (ADC) is the amount which callers pay on STD, ISD and calls made from mobile phones to landline numbers. But the telecom regulator, TRAI finds many loopholes in the government's proposal.

Amiya, a non-resident student in Delhi needs to call home frequently, but the STD tarrifs really pinch his pocket. So, now some good news comes calling for him.

This year ADC is expected to be Rs 5000 crore. TRAI has suggested that this amount be brought down to Rs 4000 crore and instead of charging it on a per call basis it will be collected as a percentage of the telecom companies? revenue.

"We will reduce ADC both for local calls and international calls and adopt a revenue share in the next regime," Pradip Baijal, Chairman, TRAI, said.

However the matter doesn't end there. ADC till now was decided by TRAI, but this time the government wants to decide it.

So they have thought of two proposals. The first one calls for charging different rates for national and international calls but TRAI feels there are problems in this.

"The problem with that regime is that there will be a tendency to create grey traffic," Baijal said.

The other proposal calls for a single low rate but since telecom companies earn most of their revenue from local calls the biggest burden of this extra charge will fall on these calls, making them more expensive.

TRAI suggests a system where apart from a fixed revenue share a nominal ADC is charged on per call basis on all international calls.

So, how soon will Amiya be able to make cheaper calls depends on how soon the government addresses TRAI's concerns.