Mithun Roy

Mumbai: Private cellular operators’ decision to pass on the benefit of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai)’s decision to phase out access deficit charge (ADC) on domestic calls may mot mean much for subscribers.

Private operators currently pay 0.75% of their adjusted gross revenues, or around Rs 600 crore, as ADC — the levy they pay to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to subsidise the stateowned telco’s rural operations.

Accordingly, if operators decided to cut 0.75% rates, it would not make much of a difference to the end-uses.

Citing an example, an analyst said: “If one takes a Re 1 call into account, a 0.75% cut would mean that the subscriber would have to pay 99.25 paise, which is nothing much.”

Harit Shah, telecom analyst, Angel Broking, said, “The fall in rates would be hardly visible and would benefit long-distance callers more.”

While Bharti Airtel, India’s biggest mobile player, said it would pass on the benefits to subscribers, Vodafone Essar said it would make an announcement shortly.

Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular declined to comment.

There may be more good news for subscribers, with Trai deciding to slash ADC on international calls to 50 paise from the present Re 1, before doing it away entirely from September 30.

To save BSNL from a possible hit, especially at a time when the behemoth is in the midst of a big rural expansion, Trai has decided to recommend to the government that it be given Rs 2,000 crore per annum as subsidy for sustaining wirelines in rural areas from the Universal Service Obligation Fund for three years from April 1.

Source : DNA