Call to review call termination charges

NEW DELHI, INDIA: India's telecom watchdog has been asked to undertake a review of mobile termination charges based on present and projected cost and traffic, parliament was informed on Thursday.

Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Minister of State for Communications and IT, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, said: "DoT (Department of Telecommunication) has suggested to TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) to undertake review of mobile termination charges and has not proposed any value as bringing this down to 10 paisa per minute."

At present, a call originating operator pays 30 paise per minute as termination charge, which is applicable for all types of calls - local, long distance and international distance.

Call termination, also known as voice termination, refers to the handing off or routing of telephone calls from one telephone company, also known as a carrier or provider, to another.

The termination charges were fixed at 30 paise a minute in 2003, but was considered too high. Since then, the cost of network and services has come down by more than 50 percent.

Sensing this, DoT asked the telecom regulator to cut mobile termination charges for lower tariffs in June this year.

In its letter to TRAI, DoT said the termination charge, paid by an operator from whose network a call originates to a service provider on whose network the call ends, is a function of traffic and such increase in volume must translate into reduction in termination charges.

Source: PR Wire