BSNL warns of rental, call charge hikes

BSNL today said there was a possibility of increasing the rentals and call charges of fixed line phones, even in the rural areas, to make up for the loss due to the lowering of the access deficit charge (ADC) by Trai recently.

"We are looking at some re-arrangements to compensate for the loss to the tune of Rs 1,254 crore due to lowered ADC. The options include upward revision in the monthly rentals, increasing call charges and reducing free calls," BSNL AMD A K Sinha said today.

Asked if the corporation would be able to make these changes as the issue was politically sensetive, Sinha said: "We have written to the department of telecom (DoT) listing out the detailed analysis of the new ADC regime including its impact and the options available with us."

There are about 1.6 crore village telephones on which the rental varied between Rs 50-100 per month and on top of that there were free calls," Sinha quipped, and pointed out that the cost-based rental comes to about Rs 362 a month.

BSNL has been charging Rs 1.20 for a three-minute call as against Trai's prescribed Rs 1.20 for a two-minute call.