BSNL has introduced a new Special Tariff Voucher (STV) of Rs. 18 allowing outgoing calls to Nepal at Rs. 6.50 per minute. Earlier BSNL charged its users Rs. 10 per minute for an outgoing call to Nepal.
At these rates, BSNL is earning just 50 Paise per call as rest of the amount is spent in paying taxes, termination charges etc. Meanwhile both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone charge their users Rs. 12 per minute for the same.
Recently Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had a meeting with Telecom Operators wherein they discussed about the high calling rates to Nepal. Operators complained that Nepal charged high termination rates for their calls resulting in the high rates for their outgoing calls to Nepal.
Termination rates of Nepal are very high compared to India where operators in India are charging just 40 paisa said Industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Director General Rajan S Mathews.
