Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Apr 21, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 |
|
|
|
|
|
Info-Tech
-
Telecommunications TRAI set to cut domestic leased line tariffs Thomas K Thomas
New Delhi , April 20 THE Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is all set to announce steep reduction in domestic leased line tariffs tomorrow. The move will benefit high bandwidth users such as call centres, broadband service providers, Internet service providers and companies that rely on services like Virtual Private Network for internal communication. The tariffs are likely to come down by more than 70 per cent. "Rapid technological advances have sharply reduced the unit cost of long-haul bandwidth. It is also observed that there is a significant decline in the cost of transmission equipment including optical fibre cable, which is the main component for setting up of leased circuit. "Reflecting these realities, worldwide, the transmission circuit prices have fallen by about 90 per cent since 1999. "It is, therefore, appropriate that the tariff for leased line in India come down accordingly," said a TRAI official. The authority had recently affected a similar cut in international leased line tariffs by imposing a ceiling fee. A cut in domestic leased line prices may also have a bearing on national long distance calls. Consumer organisations and IT-enabled services industries had approached TRAI to review leased circuit tariff to make it consistent with tariff reductions witnessed in other segments of telecom. Nasscom and Internet Service Providers Association had also requested to make price of bandwidth more affordable. The reduction in tariffs may have a negative impact on the revenues earned by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, which is the largest provider of domestic leased line circuit in the country. TRAI had earlier issued a consultation paper in this regard whereby it had suggested an annual rental of Rs 8.2 lakh for a 2 Mbps circuit over 500 km distance. At present it cost Rs 22 lakh to rent out a line of similar capacity. For higher capacity bandwidth of 64 kbps, TRAI had suggested a tariff of Rs 29,000 per annum compared to Rs 96,000 per annum at present.
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2005, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|