The Hindu Business Line : Don’t charge more for calls to fixed lines, mobile operators told

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has said that mobile operators may be pushing consumers to give up fixed line telephone by charging a higher tariff for cell-to-fixed line calls. The regulator has asked the operators to stop the differential tariff as it was not justified.

“The differential and higher charges levied by cellular service providers for calls to fixed lines do not have adequate justification. This can be viewed as an attempt to promote substitution of fixed line traffic by mobile traffic and may lead to forced substitution of fixed lines by mobiles, thereby reducing the target market for fixed line broadband,” senior TRAI officials said.

Instances

For example, Bharti Airtel’s Night Plan subscribers in Delhi have to pay Re 1 per minute for cell-to-fixed local calls, while they pay only 60 paise a minute for cell-to-cell calls. In the case of Vodafone, Talk 399 N plan, subscribers have to pay Re 1 per minute for calls to fixed line users, while mobile-to-mobile calls are charged at 75 paise a minute.

Reliance Communication prepaid users in Delhi have to pay 99 paise a minute for local calls to fixed line and 80 paise a minute for calls to other mobile users. While the operators have recently introduced a Re 1 per minute flat tariff across most of its plans, there are still a few tariff plans, where subscribers are charged differential rates across the country.

Access deficit charges

TRAI said that despite reduction in the access deficit charges (ADC), the operators have not passed on the benefits to the consumers. ADC is a levy, which operators have to pay to support rural telephony in the country.

“Service providers limited the benefit of reduction to their on-net calls instead of all types of calls to increase their subscriber base. Examination also reveals that even after abolition of per minute ADC on mobile to fixed calls, service providers continued to offer higher tariffs for mobile to fixed calls compared to mobile to mobile calls,” TRAI observed.

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