According to a note sent by the Department of Telecom's finance wing to the Chief General Managers of various circles, the average number of metered call units per telephone per day has slowed down from 21.38 in 1998-99 to 19.34 in the fiscal ended March 31, 2000.

The bottomline impact: the all-India average of telephone usage in terms of revenues per line has plummeted from Rs 843.12 per year in 1998-99 financial year, to Rs 743.19 during the fiscal ended March 31, 2000, a 12 per cent fall over the previous year.

The figure has further decreased to Rs 739.11 by May, 2000.This had an impact on the total revenue of Department of Telecom Services (DTS), better known now as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) Its billed revenue from the total 2.25 crore phones across the country has come down by Rs 2,698 crore during the same year.

In fact, per line revenue had been growing steadily upto 1995-96. Thereafter the trend was reversed and a three to four per cent revenue fall was recorded every year since 1996.

According to DoT findings, out of the 12 per cent decrease in revenue per line in 1999-2000, eight to nine per cent could be attributed directly to the implementation of new tariffs. This alone accounts for a Rs 2,000 crore drop over the previous year, out of the total fall in revenues of Rs 2,698 crore.

The DoT findings, which are yet to be published, are a matter of concern for the private as well as the public sector basic service providers such as MTNL and BSNL, at a time when people have begun to use the Internet through dial-up connections, and using phone lines for long duration.

Mr SC Khanna, Secretary General of Association of Basic Telecom Operators (ABTO) said it was a very worrying trend and it calls for more creativity in terms of number of lines. "It points to the need to have more affordable telephone services by introducing less expensive limited mobile system for fixed phones," he added.

Meanwhile, the DoT has begun a detailed study on the pattern in the fall in per line usage and its effect on the revenue of the state-owned BSNL and MTNL.

Foreseeing the problem of fall in usage and the shift towards mobile phones, private basic operators have begun to lobby for `limited mobility' for fixed phone service under the guise of affordability. The Association of Basic Telecom Operators has already sought to be allowed to offer Wireless in Local Loop Technology along with CDMA for offering normal telephone service.

Subscribers of the service can access the service in handheld devices by virtue of the technology, they say.