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G. Rambabu

NEW DELHI, Feb. 25

IN what is likely to delay the implementation of the tariff and interconnection usage charge (IUC) that are to be effected from April, a clutch of petitions has been submitted to the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) challenging the regulations issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

According to industry sources, Bharti TeleSonic Ltd, Data Access and a consumer organisation, Kalyan, have petitioned the tribunal stating that the new regulations be put aside. While Bharti and Data access have challenged the IUC regime stating that it is unfair to national and long distance operators, the NGO has challenged the tariff order noting that it would be unfair to subscribers at large.

The sources noted that Bharti had objected to Schedule II of the IUC regulation that levies origination and termination charges on all calls made beyond a distance of 50 km. As per the order, "national / intra-circle long distance carrier has to pay the origination and termination charges ranging from Rs 0.45 per minute to Rs 1.10 per minute, in addition to the recovery of his carriage costs transit charge for call carriage on his network. The difference between retail tariff and IUC, covering all involved operators, could be shared through mutual arrangements".

Data Access has raised objection to Schedule VI of the regulation which pertains to carriage charges for international long distance calls. As per the schedule, access deficit charge for both incoming as well as outgoing calls from international long distance calls shall be below Rs 5 per minute. In addition origination/ termination charges of Rs. 0.50 / 0.50 per minute shall be payable to BSO. Carriage charges to NLDO as per Schedule II shall also be applicable.

The consumer organisation Kalyan on the other hand has said that the Tariff Order is violative of NTP '99 in so far as it increases the cost of access to telecommunication services and the tariff of these services for subscribers residing in rural areas. "The same is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India in as much as it treats unequals as equals and equals as unequals. This is because the definition of a rural subscriber has been changed to the detriment of people living in rural India", it has stated.

Instead putting the burden of increase in tariff on the rural subscriber, the order should have transferred that burden to the commercial subscribers who have the capacity to pay, it has said.

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