This refers to ‘Tata Tele’s power surge’ (September 7). India’s telecom industry has entered a new phase with the Tata Teleservices decision to start charging consumers in a different manner. The company first introduced per-second billing and then introduced flat call rates, irrespective of the time taken. Tata Teleservices is taking a big gamble. If subscribers talk for too long, the company will have to give out more money through interconnect charges than it earns from consumers. It is, however, gambling on more consumers getting on to its network. Also, once these consumers start getting incoming calls, Tata Teleservices will earn from the interconnect charges on these calls. With more phones equipped with messenger services like GoogleTalk, it is likely that SMS will also start giving way to ‘chats’ — eventually, telecom companies will have to start coming out with flat per month tariffs or with plans based on data usage as opposed to the current pulse-rate billing systems. Tata Teleservices has shown the way, but a lot more changes are on the anvil.
Sameer Sachdeva, Gurgaon