TRAI to review termination charges

NEW DELHI Telecom regulator TRAI has sought data from all telcos in a bid to review the mobile termination charges. After studying the data, Trai will fix the methodology it plans to adopt for revising the termination charges.

Telcos have been asked to submit their traffic data by October-end. Any reduction in termination charges will result in lower tariffs for customers.

At present, telcos can charge a maximum of 30 paise per minute as termination charges, but these rates were fixed in 2003. Mobile tariffs have fallen by over 50% since then.

Termination fee is the charges paid by one operator to another for enabling the calls to move between the networks. For instance, if a Bharti Airtel customer makes call to Vodafone subscriber, Airtel will pay 30 paise per minute to Vodafone as termination charges.

���We must determine the methodology for reviewing termination charges ���it can be a cost-based model or it can be determined by considering the long-term incremental cost. Unless we analyse the data, we cannot quantify any reduction in termination fee. Even if we issue a consultation process, we must specify the different methodologies,��� a Trai source said. The DoT has already asked Trai to cut mobile termination charges.