MTNL chairman and managing director S Rajagopalan told newsmen that the telephone company was unable to hike the rental charges to Rs 610 as per the recommendations, from the present Rs 380. He said this can be done in two phases, and initially it could be raised to around Rs 500.

Commenting on another recommendation of TRAI on reducing the free calls to 125 from 150, he said, free calls are being given to introduce `telephone habits' among the public.

Similarly the MTNL has suggested on flat rates rather than slab-wise tariff structure.

The MTNL has also ruled out immediate reduction in the long-distance national and international calls. ``Already we have reduced it, and if we reduce it further it will have extreme burden on our infrastructure,'' he said, adding ``that the reduction of rates may be done ina phased manner.''

When asked about the recent reports on starting 10-digit telephone numbers, he said the MTNL does not have plans to do so now.