PC-to-phone calls in offing

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New Delhi, May 8: Removing the last barriers in seamless connectivity, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will soon allow connectivity between PC and fixed and mobile phones. This would mean that telephone calls could be made from a personal computer to a fixed phone or a mobile phone. These are currently not allowed.

The move would bring about a steep fall in STD rates and redefine the national long distance (NLD) regime.

Sources said Trai would release a consultation paper on the issue on May 12. Currently, voice over Internet protocol (Internet telephony) is permitted by licensed Internet service providers (ISPs), but such calls can only be made from PC-to-PC. For terminating such calls to phones, a special device has to be attached.

There’s a big market for PC-to-phone calls, as can be gauged by the traffic in the international long distance sector, where it’s allowed; the usage is about 300 million minutes in a quarter.

Once PC-to-phone calls are allowed, the NLD regime would go through an overhaul. It would also open up an entirely new business opportunity for ISPs. At present, NLD calls are carried through the network of BSNL, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Tata Communications, as they are only major players having the network. The government charges a licence fee of Rs 2.5 crore for NLD telephony. Once Internet telephony is opened up, there won’t be a need for players to go for NLD licences, as they can operate as ISPs, for which only a token licence fee of Re 1 is charged.

New players can then have an option to either build an expensive NLD network or carry long distance calls via the cheaper IP network. Operators not having an NLD network have to pay a per minute carriage charge to the NLD operators for STD calls. Currently, the ceiling on carriage charge is 65 paise a minute. Though operators offer discounts, they can abruptly start charging a higher rate, as was done by Bharti recently.