Drop in cost puts telcos on path of recasting business strategy

In packet switch, calls free up resources dynamically for other users, thereby significantly increasing network efficiency

How much data does a voice call of 400 minutes, the average monthly usage per subscriber in the country, consume? Well, it is only 40 MB (megabytes). And telcos have to fork out only Rs 2.50 for that.

That explains why the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Wednesday asked telcos to bring down their voice call costs to the level of over-the-top (OTT) applications, such as WhatsApp. 

The dramatic drop in voice call rates has been possible because of new technology — the shift of telcos from circuit switches to packet switching-based networks enabled with voice over LTE