ISPs now clamor for termination charge

NEW DELHI: The TRAI recommendations on interconnect charges for telcos have

left one set of service providers, ISPs,high and dry who are now clamoring for

their share of flesh. Considering that ISPs generated revenues worth Rs 1,755

crore for basic service operators (BSO) in 2001 during off peak hours. "We

should be accorded a terminating charge from BSOs for calls that terminate on

our networks. This would be beneficial for both us and the BSOs," said

Amitabh Singhal, Secretary, ISPAI.



As things stand currently, the reduction of pulse rate from three minutes to two
minutes is going to have a wide spread ramification for the sector, "The

revenue model of ISPs is directly related to the surfing time by

customers," said R Ramaraj, MD, Sify Ltd. “With the reduction in the

pulse rate, we expect the average surfing time to come down from one hour 10

minutes to about 40 minutes, directly impacting our bottomlines,” he added.



In fact, it has been an old standing demand by ISPs for a revenue-share model
with BSOs for the traffic generated by them. "While the average call

holding time is two-three minutes in a voice call, an ISP customer surfs for a

minimum of one and a half hour. The tariff generated by such calls is entirely

pocketed by BSOs. The time has come for a revenue share with the ISP industry

also," added Singhal.



ISPs are sitting together on February 5 to chalk out their strategy to offset
the possible impact on the sector. According to Ramaraj, the recommendations

from the sector are going to be two-fold: provide for differential pulse rate

for ISPs and provide a revenue share to the sector from BSO for calls generated

by their customers.



TRAI has recommended that BSOs charge the same rate of Rs 12 per hour during off
peak hours for data connectivity. During peak hours, the current rate stands at

Rs 24 per hours which is expected to go up to Rs 36 per hour when the new

recommendations come into force from April. ISPs are expected to ask for a flat

rate of Rs 12 per hour throughout the day for data calls.