TRAI for choice of operator for STD, ISD calls

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday sent a recommendation to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), regarding the  “Provision of Calling Cards by National and International Long Distance Operators”.

Once implemented, this would enable telecom consumers to get choice of long distance calling cards and freedom to subscribe to any access provider.

These recommendations to the government are a result of extensive review of mechanisms of providing choice of long distance carrier to the Indian consumer, TRAI said in a press release.  

This would enable consumers to exercise choice of long distance operator for the national and international calls through calling cards. TRAI hopes this would encourage competition and affordable innovative tariff plans would become available.

“Consumer can subscribe to any access provider and still not be dependent on the access provider for long distance calls,” it said. “Through long distance calling cards customer can make long distance calls from telephone of any access provider.”

TRAI had recognized the need for carrier selection quite early in the path to liberalization, the release said.

The telecom sector has grown at a phenomenal rate in the last few years and the role of policy and regulatory decisions taken by DoT and TRAI has been significant in improving the availability of service and reducing the cost of provisioning these services, it added.

TRAI sees the latest recommendation as a step to empower the Indian Telecom consumer further, as the consumers would now be able to exercise choice of carrier for the national and international calls through calling cards.