Corporates may not dial into OneIndia

The government's upcoming OneIndia policy is unlikely to be extended to corporates and fixed line "large-scale" users of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, who enjoy local calls at discounted rates on account of higher rentals.

This was because the government did not want to complicate the OneIndia policy by reworking the schemes for large-scale users, official sources said. Besides, the department of telecommunications (DoT) wants to retain the existing rentals under the new policy.

At present, large-scale users enjoy discounts on local calls that are equivalent or even lesser than tariffs proposed under the upcoming policy.

For instance, under BSNL's Rs 975 rental "special plus" scheme, a three-minute local call costs Re 1.00, while under the Rs 1,450 rental "super" plan, the charge for a local call is 90 paise.

Additionally, in the "premium" package, with a rental of Rs 2,450, local calls cost 80 paise, equivalent to the subsidised rates paid by customers in rural India.

As high-end landline users accounted for a significant per cent of the total revenue, the move would ensure that PSUs were not subject to further losses on account of OneIndia, sources added. BSNL had earlier said it would face revenue loss of about Rs 4,500 crore in the first year if OneIndia was implemented.

The sources also added that the policy, which likely to be unveiled on January 15, would bring about up to 70 per cent reduction in basic telephony tariffs on inter-circle calls.

OneIndia was slated to come into effect from January 1, but could not be launched as BSNL was yet to work out a uniform tariff plan that acceptable to all segments.

Against the earlier proposal for common call rates across the country for both local and long-distance calls, the DoT has now decided to go in for two separate tariff slabs "� uniform tariff for all local calls and another for all long-distance calls.

HUNG UP

Govt says corporates and other large-scale users of BSNL/MTNL already enjoy local calls at discounted rates

Govt doesn't want to rework schemes for large-scale users

DoT wants to retain existing rentals under the policy

The move is to ensure that PSUs are not subjected to further losses