Basic operators have accused the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India of having a predetermined view on the issue of allowing the calling party pays regime for cellular operators.

In its response to the Trai paper on reviewing interconnect usage charges, the Association of Basic Telecom Operators said Trai had introduced the CPP without any consultations with the telecom industry.

Even cellular firms, whose subscribers had benefited from the Trai decision to allow free incoming, said the regulator had missed out key aspects of the CPP regime like a higher revenue share for cellular operators in lieu of forgoing revenue from offering free incoming.

The Cellular Operators Association of India, while supporting Trai's move, said as per the international average, cellular operators should get 70 per cent of the revenue from fixed-to-cell calls.

"Trai in the current IUC regime has violated the long standing discipline of seeking opinions and inputs both in writing and open houses across the country. Trai has failed to give a clear and acceptable rationale for introducing CPP in this manner," the ABTO said in its response.

Basic operators have said the CPP places an unjustified and huge burden on basic subscribers.

In fact this is detrimental to the interest of cellular operators themselves since it deters people from calling mobile numbers.

The COAI has pointed out that what has been introduced by Trai is an IUC regime featuring free incoming calls and not a true CPP regime.

Internationally, in a CPP regime, the share of the mobile operator is usually far higher - the tariff for a fixed to mobile call is usually shared in a 30:70 ratio or higher between the fixed and mobile operator.

In India, however, cellular operators get around one-third of the revenue while basic operators retains the remaining, the COAI said.