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India still needs to remove regulatory restrictions which is delaying the onset of full-blown competition in telecom, according to Gartner Inc, the international research and advisory firm.

On a health check on international and domestic long distance services in the country, Gartner has pointed out that despite increasing liberalisation, international and domestic long distance services in the country are still not competitive.

"Prices have come down in the last two years, particularly for voice services, but they are still high compared with competitive markets, and in terms of voice quality India still has a long way to go before it matches best practices in developed countries", stated Gartner in a press release.

Gartner has evaluated the telecom services based on choice of carriers, pricing and service quality and has assigned a rating to each service using the following scheme - full competition, limited competition and no competition.

"For full competition, the market needs to have at least three major providers, word-class service quality and very competitive pricing. In limited competition, there are two or more major providers, but competition is limited, resulting in average service quality and pricing. For no competition, the market is a monopoly or remains a virtual monopoly, a situation where a market is liberalised but there are no competitiors. Consequently, prices remain high and service quality poor", the release added.

There is limited competition both in voice and data. "But choice is limited to access carriers, not the end users, thus muting the competitive environment", the release added.

Puneeth Punja, principal analyst, telecom, Gartner Inc said "Neither market meets the criteria for full competition as long as consumers cannot choose their international and domestic long-distance carrier. Carrier access codes need to be implemented, which will provide users the freedom to choose their preferred service provider. The market, will need at least three players with extensive networks to be fully competitive".

In international services, more carriers are extending their networks via partnerships with India carriers.

But prices remain high due to high revenue sharing. also, international carriers face difficulties delivering end-to-end service level guarantees due to lack of control over local loop service quality.