The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has raised International Termination Charges (ITC) to 35-65 paise per minute from the current 30 per cent per minute, bringing it under the forbearance regime.

The move is mainly to ensure a level-playing field between standalone and integrated International Long Distance Operators (ILDOs). The regulator has also mandated operators to offer non-discriminatory rates for such termination charges to everyone, TRAI said in a statement.

ITC is a charge payable by an Indian ILDO that carries the call from outside the country to an operator in the country on whose network the call terminates. TRAI issued the notification today.

TRAI will also closely monitor implementation of ITC under the forbearance regime, including the trends and patterns of international long distance voice traffic in the country.

“The authority, if it deems necessary, may review this regime as well as the rate of ITC in due course of time,” it added.

No major impact

However, this would not result in any major revenue hike for telecom operators, even though it would help the financially stressed operators gain some revenue.

“This will help normalise ITC to international rates and bring in a level playing field, but the impact on the industry will depend on how much each operator will increase the rates. From what I understand, ITC is only about 1 per cent of an operator’s total revenue, it wouldn’t make much of a difference,” Cellular Operators’ Association of India Director-General Rajan S Mathews said.

“The operators will get some additional revenue, and this move is in the right direction,” he added.

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