| |
| | |  Advertisement | | |
| |
January 30, 2007 17:05 IST
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has asked mobile operators to submit a report on compliance of a government order allowing telephone calls within four circles to be treated as intra-circle for tariff purposes.
The Trai's move comes in the wake of sector tribunal Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal rejecting last month a plea by some private mobile firms.
The operators had challenged the regulator's direction to discontinue differential tariffs within Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh -- the four circles where the department of telecommunication had in May 2005 permitted inter-service area connectivity among service providers.
The arrangement for call routing and dialling in these states was different from other states. Calls within the four states were treated as intra-service calls, leading to a decline in tariffs charged by mobile operators.
However, some private mobile firms specified higher tariff for calls terminating in the mobile networks of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd within these states.
The regulator examined this differential tariff issue and found it was discriminatory and was preventing consumers from getting full advantage of the government decision to allow inter-service area connectivity within the four states.
Trai issued a direction in February 2006 to mobile firms in these four states to discontinue differential tariffs.
The regulator said it has asked all mobile companies in these states to report compliance to its direction by January 23 and intimate the date from which the service providers have been complying with the direction.
© Copyright 2007 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
|
| |
Email this Article 
Print this Article