Trai Decides to Further Increase the Woes of Telecom Operators by Slashing International Usage Charges to 30 Paise From 53 Paise/Min

Follow Us

After slashing the domestic interconnect charges, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today slashed the International interconnect charges from 53 paise per minute to 30 paise per minute, increasing the woes of Indian telecom operators. The new regulations shall come into force from February 1, 2018. Indian telcos are yet to comment on this massive announcement from the regulator.

rssharma-trai




For the unaware, International Termination Charges (ITC) are the charges payable by an International Long Distance Operator (ILDO), which is carrying calls from outside the country to the access providers in the country in whose network the call terminates. Trai issued the consultation paper on Review of Interconnect Usage Charges on August 5, 2016.

Back in February 2015, Trai increased the ITC to 53 paise per minute from 40 paise per minute. During the same period, the regulator reduced the domestic interconnect charges to 14 paise per minute from 20 paise per minute. And in September 2017, the domestic IUC were reduced to 6 paise per minute from 14 paise per minute.

“Another issue raised in the CP (consultation paper) was about prescribing International Termination Charge and Prescription of revenue share between Indian ILDO (international long distance) and access provider in the International Termination Charge. The Authority is of the view that there is a need of more deliberation on the issue, and therefore the Authority will issue a separate regulation on this issue,” Trai said in its September 19 order while slashing the domestic interconnect usage charges.

Indian telecom operators are already going through severe financial issues, and this move will further increase their woes. The regulator would have delayed the new rates announcement by at least six months as it's just four months since the domestic rates cut. However, this change will go down well the international operators such as Verizon and AT&T, but the Indian telecom operators will be deeply disappointed.

Recent Comments

Faraz :

Does Bharti Hexacom provide Airtel 5G services in N.E and Rajasthan Or Both are offering 5G seperately ? Who bought…

Bharti Hexacom IPO Set for April 3, TCIL to Sell…

Faraz :

Nice.. & BSNL 60 Mbps is even perfect plan for many if there are more than 5 devices connected. Many…

BSNL 60 Mbps Plan is Likely One of the Best…

Faraz :

Budget phones have degraded more than any other budget phones since pandemic. They are still selling some craps like Helio…

POCO C61 to Launch on March 26, 2024

shivraj roy :

i feel Vi has improved than what it was in 2022 i usually get around 8-10mbps in very heavily dense…

5G Users Consuming 3.6 Times More Data than 4G Users…

biswadeepmondal :

JioAir Fiber is working very well in KPA & HLR. Sadly they don't have any data only plan.

REP: Airtel Expands Network Footprint in Bankura District of West…

Load More
Subscribe
Notify of
12 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments