The Hindu Business Line : TRAI may review roaming tariffs

Expressing concern at the high tariffs being charged by mobile operators for roaming services, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India today said that it might consider issuing a consultation paper to review the tariff regime. TRAI has also shot down a proposal from state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, which had sought to charge a termination rate on all roaming calls.

BSNL had wanted a three way split of the revenues earned from roaming services whereby the operator on whose network the call terminates also get a share. At present, the revenue is shared only between the operator who owns the subscriber and the operator on whose network the subscriber is roaming. The operator on whose network the call terminates gets 30 paise a minute as per the interconnect charges. BSNL had wanted a higher share for the terminating operator. TRAI said that such a move would increase the roaming tariffs. The regulator had earlier issued a consultation paper to discuss the issue. Private operators had opposed the proposal from BSNL.

No justification

TRAI reiterated that there is no justification for a revenue sharing arrangement among operators in respect of roaming calls (national and international). TRAI also reconfirmed its earlier decision that the terminating operator should get only the termination charge as prescribed in the IUC Regulation," TRAI said in a press release.

The telecom regulator is also examining the model being followed by the European Commission, which had recently announced a steep reduction in roaming charges for European operators.

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