The Hindu Business Line : `BSNL should cut Net access charges further'

WHILE the decision of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to lower Internet access charges is welcome, an expert view is that the proposed tariff is much higher than justified.

In a decision taken a few days back, BSNL decided to reduce tariffs for direct Internet access services (DIAS) by over 50 per cent. While the installation charges have been brought down from a maximum of Rs 3,000 to a flat fee of Rs 500 across all tariff packages, the monthly rental has also been reduced from a maximum of Rs 1,800 a month to Rs 900. The new tariffs take effect from June 1.

According to Mr P. Abraham Paul, Managing Partner and Chief Telecom Consultant, Future Groups, the major cost of providing telecom service is accounted for by the local loop for which the subscriber is already paying a substantial amount as rent.

In the case of BSNL, the proposed data access is shared on the already existing phone line. The user also pays up towards cost of additional equipment at his premises. Comparatively, BSNL incurs lower expenses in respect of the network elements in the access system.

Telephony is an end-to-end product and charged only when the product is delivered. No access charge is levied for ineffective calls. As of now, most of the country's service providers do not have finished products to offer.

What they mostly do is provide access to the external servers; and the customer ends up making multiple payments for enjoying the end products.

Currently, network performance and quality of service being provided are nowhere near the levels promised. Net connectivity being offered to home users hardly delivers enough speed `through-and-through' to peer networks such as Hotmail, Yahoo and Google.

But it is also a fact that most general users don't need data speed beyond 64 KBPS for their data transactions. The copper pair in the local loop can effectively and efficiently handle 64 KBPS data and voice chat.

The ISPs need to be pulled up for their failure in matching performance and quality of service to the levels promised. Telecom business can survive and succeed through ramping up of volumes.

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