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Journalism of Courage
Cellular subscribers can look forward to free incoming calls from all networks from Thursday, with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Wednesday stating that the interconnect usage charge regime would become effective from May 1.
TRAI has also cleared all basic telephony tariffs filed by fixed line operators till April 27, and these tariffs would also come into effect from Thursday. However, in an unexpected move, TRAI said that since it was in the process of examining cellular and WLL tariff packages submitted late by operators, for the month of May it would allow them to implement tariffs without prior approval and at their responsibility, on the condition that they meet certain general regulatory principles.
But all tariffs to be implemented after May 31 should have prior approval of the authority. Listing out the criteria for the introduction of tariffs, TRAI chairman Pradip Baijal said the operators should themselves withdraw the tariffs which are not IUC compliant and cellular operators should ensure that from May 1 that no tariff is levied on incoming calls.
