Communications and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran on Thursday said the government was firm on its commitment towards a uniform telecom tariff for the country.
He said the hike in foreign direct investment cap in the telecom sector to 74 per cent from the current 49 per cent was also likely to be notified shortly. "OneIndia is possible. Let us face it," he told reporters after his meeting with Flextronics executives.
Maran said when calls within a state had the same charges there was no reason to have different rates across the country.
"We are going towards One India very soon. However, first we need to remove artificial barriers," Maran said.
To simplify the tariff regime, the government would have to make legal changes, he said.
Intra-state disparity in telephone tariffs has already been addressed by the government. The department of telecommunications recently announced that intra-state calls in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and between western and eastern Uttar Pradesh, would be treated as local calls.
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