Update: TRAI has issued an update to The Telecommunication Interconnection Usage Charges (Twelfth Amendment) Regulations, 2015 which slashed the domestic carriage charge by 50% from 65 paise per minute to 35 paise per minute. This regulation will be effective from 1 March 2015. Carriage charges are the charges a telecom service provider pays a National Long Distance Operator to carry inter-Licensed Service Area calls. Service providers proposed to reduce the ceiling on carriage charges which was fixed in 2006 to reduce long-distance calling tariffs and offer uniform STD tariffs across the country. This move was made on the basis of comments from stakeholders in writing, during open house discussions and internal analyses. Earlier (February 24): Landline-to-mobile and mobile-to-mobile call rates are likely to fall as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) reduced interconnection (operator-to-operator) charges for network usage. TRAI has also gotten rid of the charges paid by landline service providers from one service provider to another in a bid to encourage the use of landline phones. The interconnection charges are included in the user-end tariff paid by customers when they make landline or mobile to mobile calls. Initially, through ‘Telecommunication Interconnection Usage Charges (Eleventh Amendment) Regulations’, the interconnection usage charge between mobile providers was 20 paise and has now been slashed to 14 paise amounting to a charges reduction of 30%. Previously, landline-to-landline or landline-to-mobile interconnection charges were 20 paise and has now been reduced to 0. Wired line connections in India have seen a steady decline over the…
