New telcos propose low termination fee (India)
Swan, Unitech, Datacom, Loop and Reliance Communications have proposed TRAI to slash the termination charges, while existing GSM players, led by Bharti, want the 30 paise per minute charge to continue. The lower termination fee in the overall review of interconnection charge will affect the retail tariff.
“The termination charge for new entrants is a cost and not revenue. The charge has a direct bearing on retail tariffs. Higher the termination charge, higher will be the retail tariffs and therefore it is anti-consumer, besides reducing the margins and competitive ability of new entrants to match the tariffs of the established and large operators. The termination charge is around 30-50% of the total retail tariff. The new entrants will have to match or provide lower tariffs than incumbent operators charge”, said the new operator.
The reduction in mobile termination charge (MTC) would lead to substantial drop in retail tariff, according to RCom.
