New Delhi: Amid industry apprehensions that Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) latest tariff announcements will make dial-up Internet access expensive, the telecom regulator on January 29 said it will soon look at steps to address the issue, in order to make net access more affordable.

"We would like to think of some solution for this. We will certainly try to address this issue," TRAI chairman M S Verma told reporters.

He said TRAI would look at ways and means to address the issue of Internet affordability.

"We will try to find if there is a solution either technological or some other solution. We will also try to talk to operators," Verma said.

Last week the telecom regulator announced fresh basic tariffs reducing the pulse rate of local calls to two minutes from the current three minutes, triggering industry's fears that Internet access through dial-up too would become more expensive. The tariffs would be implemented from April 1, 2003.

R Ramaraj, president of Internet Service Providers' Association of India (ISPAI) on January 28 said the association would approach the telecom regulator and Communications Ministry on the issue.

"TRAI's tariff announcement will make Internet access more expensive for dial-up customer. There have been steps taken in the past to bring down the cost to the customer so that he spends more time on the Net. This (move of TRAI) goes the other way. I think this will drive usage of the net down," Ramaraj had said.

PTI