The telecommunications industry is planning to meet Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee seeking a rollback of the interconnect charges announced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in January.

The interconnect norms have jacked up fixed-line to cell tariffs by almost 200 per cent and reduced the number of free calls available to a fixed-line user.

Industry sources said key operators had already met officials in the Prime Minister's Office to discuss the issue.

They said the industry was seeking a status quo on the implementation of interconnect norms till all issues were ironed out.

Telecommunication service providers, including basic operators, cellular service providers and long-distance operators, have already filed a case in the telecom disputes tribunal against the Trai order.

Only cellular operators have withdrawn their appeal on grounds that the regulator had promised a review of the norms.

Cellular operators are not too happy with the outcome of the interconnect regime.

Since incoming calls on cellphones are free, mobile service providers will lose out on the revenue from incoming airtime charged earlier.

They are also unhappy because most fixed-line operators are charging higher tariffs on calls to cellphones.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd , for instance, is charging Rs 1.20 for a 30 second call to a cellular subscriber, while it charges Rs 1.20 for a three-minute call to another fixed line.

Basic operators are opposing a 33 per cent hike in basic tariffs as per Trai norms. However, BSNL did not implement it fully because it would have jacked up tariffs for its 40 million subscribers.

Basic operators are also against the introduction of the calling party pays regime, which led to free incoming calls for cellular subscribers.

"The fixed-line customer will have to face the brunt because his expense will climb about six times compared to the pre-interconnect scenario," said a basic operator.

Even BSNL's employees union has demanded a rollback of the new tariff regime saying it will impact its subscriber base.

The government had come under fire yesterday in Parliament when the Opposition demanded a review of the new tariff regime.

Even Bharatiya Janata Party allies like the Shiv Sena and the Samata Party sought a rollback on grounds that it was anti-consumers.

Telecom tangle

• Key operators have already met officials in the Prime Minister's Office to discuss the issue.
• Interconnect norms have jacked up fixed-line to cell tariffs by almost 200%.
• Due to free incoming, mobile service providers will lose out on the revenue from incoming airtime.