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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, Sept 9: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today proposed a new tariff structure, slashing rates for long distance calls and raising steeply the rental and local call charges with effect from November 1998.
While releasing a consultative paper for telecom tariff which suggested changes in basic and value added services, TRAI chairman, Justice S S Sodhi said the final tariff would be worked in less than three months.
Welcoming the tariff restructuring, the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and industry associations for cellular, paging and basic services said the new cost-based tariff structure would act as a catalyst for telecom sector's growth.
Trai's suggestion included increasing the rental by upto 140 per cent, slashing the number of free calls to 120 with a uniform call rate at Rs 1.30 and a simplified tariff structure for long distance domestic and international calls that would benefit the subscribers.
For value added cellular, TRAI has recommended cutting down call charge with a cap of Rs 6 per minute from a peak of Rs 16.80 while suggesting an over 200 per cent increase in rental at Rs 600 per month as against Rs 156 now.
TRAI proposed to cut down duration of a call from five to three minutes while increasing the monthly rental from Rs 50 to Rs 120 in rural and in the range of Rs 160 to Rs 310 from Rs 75 to Rs 190 for urban areas.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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