19 set to enter long distance call market

Telecom tariffs for both national and international long-distance (NLD and ILD) services are set to crash as the segment is all set to see the entry of as many as 19 new players.

Following the introduction of new guidelines for the long-distance sector, which relaxed entry barriers, roll-out obligations, and annual licence fee from January 2006, the government has received five applications for ILD licences and 13 for NLD licences, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has said.

Industry analysts estimate a 30 per cent reduction in national long-distance tariffs and a 25 per cent fall in ILD rates after the entry of these new companies. Currently, the country has only three players in the ILD sector "" Bharti, Videsh Sanchar and Reliance Infocomm.

In the NLD space, these players are joined by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, which means just four operators carrying the entire STD traffic in the country.

According to details provided by the ministry, the new applicants in the ILD segment include Shippingstop DoT Com, Sify Communications Ltd, Dishnet Wireless, Spice Communications and i2I Enterprises Ltd. With the exception of Shippingstop Dot Com, the other four applicants have foreign equity share holding, varying from 26 to 72.6 per cent.

Additionally, these five players have also applied for NLD licences. The applicants for NLD licences include Hutchison Essar, HCL Infinet, Hughes Escorts Communications Ltd, Tulip IT Services etc.