TRAI hikes landline rentals by 11-12 %

BANGALORE:In the wake of the ongoing telecom war, TRAI has announced a 11 to 12% increase in the monthly rental charges for landline telephones. It has also reduced the local call pulse duration from 3 to 2 minutes.

The number of free calls for landline phones have been reduced greatly;60 to 30 in urban areas and 75 to 50 in rural areas. It has also announced that there would be no free calls for WLL. Both WLL companies and cellular companies would now have to pay an interconnect charge of 30 paise for local calls in all metropolitan cities. This will be applicable from April 1 2003.