Telecom tariffs are likely to fall as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India substantially lowered access deficit charge, a levy paid by private operators to BSNL for rural operations.
In an application filed with Trai, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd has sought regulatory approval to reduce prices on one of its premium connectivity modes, DS3, citing an increase in bandwidth on a submarine cable system.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd plans to provide broadband services in a big way in 2004 and would introduce the service in seven major cities in the country, including Chennai, BSNL chief managing director Prithipal Singh said on Thursday.
The cellular phone industry will be able to lower the tariffs if the access deficit charge is brought down, according to Sunil Mittal, the CMD of telecom major Bharti.
As many as 17.9 lakh (1.79 million) subscribers of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and 203,000 customers of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd surrendered landline telephones between April to October this year, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said on Thursday that the current access deficit charge of 11 per cent must be brought down to lower the tariffs and enable the sector achieve higher mobile growth like China.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd lost 32.6 lakh subscribers in 2003-04 compared to 17.9 lakh in the previous year even as 17.5 lakh people were waiting to get new connections from the state-owned telecom company as on March 31, 2004.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd will reduce ISD (international subscriber dialling) tariffs for Sri Lanka by 40 per cent and to Middle East countries by 20 per cent from October 1.
State-owned BSNL would be the biggest gainer followed by MTNL if the government changes the inter-connect usage charges, based on TRAI's consultation paper, according to a recent report by equity research firm J M Morgan Stanley.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's profits have declined after its corporatisation, mainly on account of the sharp increase in wages, higher depreciation rates, provision of bad debts and wealth tax, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited on Friday said that the concept of unified license regime as propounded by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India was not harmful from the point of view of the operators.
The Tatas-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, the Internet gateway and service provider, is likely to receive around Rs 786 crore ($169 million) from the sale of its 5.42 per cent stake in US satellite company, Intelsat Ltd.
Reliance Infocomm is once again giving incumbents Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd a run for their money.
The company had over 1.66 crore (16.6 million) landlines in February.
Even after the rejection of its financial package of Rs 23,000 crore (Rs 230 billion) by the Cabinet, BSNL on Tuesday said it was hopeful that the proposal would eventually be accepted.
The government is likely to sell its residual stake in privatised firms like Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd and CMC to strategic acquirers soon, Divestment Minister Arun Shourie said on Monday.
VSNL Lanka Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd on Tuesday said that it has been granted external gateway operator license by the Telecom Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka.
Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd has inked a pact with ICICI Bank Ltd, whereby the private sector bank will distribute the former's Tata Indicom dial-up Internet services through its ATMs in the country.
Terming its proposed move to reduce pulse rate for basic to mobile calls as "non-discriminatory", Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on Tuesday expressed hope that revenue impact on account of new customer-friendly packages.
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