The Hindu Business Line : BSNL, pvt cos oppose TRAI access deficit charge plan

PRIVATE telecom operators and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd have opposed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's new formula for imposing the access deficit charge.

While the former has objected to the entire concept of imposing deficit charges, BSNL has expressed reservations on TRAI's new formula to collect the charge as part of the annual revenue instead of the current method of loading it on the airtime tariff. The controversial issue will be taken up by the telecom regulator in an open house discussion with the industry on Tuesday.

Access deficit charge is a form of a cess imposed by the TRAI on telephone charges in order to subsidise setting up communication facility in economically unviable regions.

Since BSNL does most of this social obligation, a significant chunk of the Rs 5,000 crore collected through deficit charges accrues to the state- owned company.

However with TRAI proposing to reduce the kitty to about Rs 3,000 crore, BSNL is not too happy with the move.

A senior BSNL official said, "The TRAI's proposal to charge ADC as part of the annual revenues is going to benefit only international carriers to the tune of Rs 1,700 crore. That's because a large part of the charge is collected from international long distance calls. So instead of paying Rs 4.50 per minute, they will pay only a small fraction of the revenues. Neither BSNL nor any other domestic players will benefit from the move." While BSNL's objection is born out of a fear of a reduction in the subsidy, private operators, on the other hand, are opposing the TRAI proposal for different reason.

They want the charge to be abolished completely.

Mr T.V. Ramachandran, Director-General, Cellular Operators Association of India said, "There is no logic of funding the operations of a profit making company. Though we are fine with the basic proposal of charging ADC as a part of the revenue, we are questioning the rationale of imposing the charge in the first place."

Mr S.C. Khanna, Secretary, Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India said, "At a time when we are competing with BSNL there is no question of paying any deficit charge. And even then if TRAI feels a need for supporting BSNL then let them adjust it from the 5 per cent of the revenue that we are already paying towards universal services obligation."

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BSNL, pvt cos oppose TRAI access deficit charge plan