The Internet Service Providers Association of India said on Thursday that the new tariffs announced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India would have an adverse impact on the growth of Internet, with lower usage as well as a decline in the number of subscribers.

The cost structure was already skewed against the Internet service providers and the new order would only make it worse, it added.

In a letter to the telecom regulator, the association has said the pulse rate for Internet surfing should be revised to 300 seconds instead of the proposed 120 seconds.

At present, customer pay Rs 1.20 per 180 seconds for surfing, which is slated to go up to Rs 1.20 for 120 seconds.

"The cost of Internet access through PSTN dial-up is currently around Rs 32 per hour and is slated to go up to Rs 44 per hour, which will result in a 35 per cent increase in the cost of Internet access. While this means basic operators will rake in an additional revenue of about Rs 1,680 annually from dial-up services alone, the Internet service providers will have to shoulder additional burden," ISPAI has said.

In its letter to Trai, the Internet service providers have said," It is worth examining how much the PSTN dial-up access costs an Internet subscriber and how much additional revenue the basic service operators get from this service."

Last week, the telecom regulator had announced new basic tariffs reducing the pulse rate of local calls to 2 minutes from 3 minutes at present, triggering apprehensions that Internet access through dial-up would become more expensive. The tariffs are to be implemented from April 1, 2003.