Telecom firms set to raise tariffs 15-20%

Telephone subscribers can brace themselves for higher bills from this month.

With the revised interconnect regime coming into effect from today, telecom operators are planning a 15-20 per cent hike in tariffs. The revised interconnect regime requires all operators to share the Rs 5,000 crore access deficit charge burden.

The hike will not be restricted to local calls. Long-distance domestic and international tariffs are also likely to see a 15-20 per cent jump.

Telecom operators have warned that the imposition of access deficit charges on all telecom services will result in an across-the-board hike in the coming weeks.

"The access deficit charge was not imposed on cellular services till now. This is an additional burden and we have no choice but to pass it on to the consumer. Cell-to-cell tariffs will definitely go up," said T V Ramachandran, director-general, Cellular Operators Association of India.

At present, India has the lowest cellular tariffs in the world at an average of 50 paise a minute and international long-distance calls at an average of Rs 9 a minute.

Most operators are planning a 10-20 paise increase in the cell-to-cell tariffs in order to meet the requirements of the interconnect regime.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has levied the access deficit charge on all operators in order to subsidise fixed-line telephony.

The major gainer from the move is Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, which has over 42 million fixed-line subscribers. As a result, over 90 per cent of the Rs 5,000 crore access deficit charge will go to BSNL.

The interconnect regime comes into effect today. The implementation of the new regime was postponed thrice by the telecom regulator after operators raised objections.

The cellular operators' association and the Association of Basic Telecom Operators have again written to Trai seeking further extension of the interconnect regime on the grounds that BSNL was flouting norms.