The Hindu Business Line : PM may decide on BSNL tariff

WITH politicians cutting across party lines creating a furore in Parliament over the hike in landline-to-mobile charges from the networks of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is now expected to take a final call on a rollback in tariffs if any.

According to informed sources, the Union Communications Minister, Mr Arun Shourie, was scheduled to meet Mr Vajpayee this morning and apprise him of the developments on the tariff front, the logic of the interconnection usage charge regime (IUC) and the impact it would have on BSNL's bottomline. However, the meeting had to be postponed and is now expected to take place in the next couple of days.

While Mr Shourie has on the floor of the House justified the hike in call charges imposed by BSNL stating that it was necessary for the company to stay afloat, he has been advised to let a final decision be taken by the Prime Minister, this being an election year.

Incidentally, this is only the second time that the Prime Minister will be directly intervening in telecom issues. The first time around was when the private cellular operators sought an intervention regarding the DoT decision to allow basic operators to provide limited mobility services.

The sources noted that in case the PM does insist on a rollback of tariffs even as the IUC regime continues to be implemented, it will lead to huge revenue outgo for BSNL. As it will have to pay access charges to the cellular operators and WLL operators, but cannot charge the same from the customer.

TRAI had in the IUC regulation stated that the basic operators in metros should charge Rs 1.20 per 90 seconds for calls to cellular phone, with the mobile operator getting 30 paise per minute as the terminating charges. For other circle areas, the basic operators have been asked to charge Rs 1.20 per minute for calls to cellular phones, with the mobile operators keeping 40 paise as terminating charges. For long distance calls similarly different rates have been prescribed.

Hence if the landline-to-cellular calls are rolled back to Rs 1.20 per three minutes, without a stay on the access charge regime, then BSNL has to pay the cellular operators 90 paise/three minutes in metros and the entire Rs 1.20/three minutes in the other circles. That is something which will have to be considered before any decision on rollback is made, the sources said.

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