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G. Rambabu

New Delhi , Dec. 23

FIFTEEN years after the public call office (PCO) revolution took off, changing the entire telecom landscape in the country, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has given its nod to a package of measures that seek to increase their accessibility and make it even more attractive to become a franchisee of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL).

According to official sources, in the face of dwindling revenues for the PCOs because of a sharp fall in STD and ISD tariffs and the resultant decline in their commissions, the package that has been cleared by the department will seek to encourage the setting up of more PCOs, while encouraging the existing 15.3-lakh franchisees to continue with their services.As part of the new incentive package, procedural formalities for additional PCOs will be done away with and the lump sum security amount for new franchisees will no longer be charged. Further, the security deposit for PCO holder may be allowed in the form of a bank guarantee and no rental will be charged for the period of safe custody of PCO.

"For promoting IT kiosks/cyber dhabas, ISDN connection at lower tariffs should be provided. This would not only encourage IT kiosks but would also facilitate higher utilisation of the existing spare capacity of ISDN connections. Tie-ups with State governments, department for rural development etc., may be explored for making available loans or subsidies to PCOs for converting into IT kiosks/cyber dhabas", the DoT noted.

Some of the other measures include making available space at railway stations at subsidised rates for the franchisees, PCOs being appointed as collecting agents for telephone bills and distribution of printed directories and CD Rom directories on a commission basis.

The sources pointed out that the concept of PCO as a franchisee was first introduced in 1989 to improve accessibility of telephones to general public at short distance including STD/ISD facilities and for other miscellaneous purposes.

Even as the entry of private sector operators in basic and cellular services has increased the penetration of telephones, the accessibility of public telephones has also improved to about one public telephone per 460 population in urban areas and one public telephone per 1600 population in rural areas. However, the recent decline in telecom tariffs have dealt a severe blow to the PCOs and BSNL/MTNL whose proportion of revenue has declined from 28 per vent in 2000 to about 19 per cent this year.

In the changed scenario, income from franchised public telephones is becoming less and less attractive. Further there is hardly any scope now for further increase in the commission rates of BSNL/MTNL for the franchised public telephones.

With the falling tariffs and other developments, income from public telephones may slide down further, so the incentive package will seek to make PCOs an attractive proposition, they said.

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