[Commons-Law] PC-to-phone calls in offing

[Prashant Iyengar]

PC-to-phone calls in offing
http://www.financialexpress.com/printer/news/307109/

Rishi Raj
Posted online: Friday , May 09, 2008 at 2236 hrs

New Delhi, May 8Removing 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.

With steps taken on ushering in the MVNO regime, carrier access code
and Internet telephony, the last barriers in the telecom sector would
be broken, said an official.