STD to be cheaper from October 1

SEPT 21: As part of the three-year tariff re-balancing exercise, the government today announced new telephone charges, effective from Octo...

SEPT 21: As part of the three-year tariff re-balancing exercise, the government today announced new telephone charges, effective from October 1 by slashing STD charges by up to 33 per cent, but leaving the local call charges and rentals untouched.

The Government had accepted most of the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India TRAI and reworked the off-peak hour duration to benefit the common users, Minister of State for Communications Tapan Sikdar told reporters here.

New charges have been worked out with an aim to minimise the revenue loss to the Department of Telecom Services DTS and to increase the traffic during the off-peak hours to help the middle class and common customers, he said.

As per the new tariff, one minute call during peak hours between two destinations of up to 200 km have been slashed by over nine per cent from the present Rs 16.80 to Rs 15.60. Call charges for distances up to 50 km have been left untouched. Peak hour STD charges for distances between 200-500 km would be lesser by 19 per cent. An one minute call in this segment would cost Rs 36 against the existing Rs 44.40.

Peak hour charge within a distance of 500 to 1000 km has been reduced by 13.5 per cent from the current Rs 62.40 to Rs 54. STD charge for a distance above 1000 km would be Rs 73.70 per minute against the current Rs 87.80, down by 16.5 per cent, Sikdar said.

Though effective reduction in the STD charges would be less by only nine to 16.5 per cent during the peak hours, the change would be from eight to 33 per cent during the off-peak hours, Sikdar said.

As per the changes peak hour charges would be levied from 9 am to 8 pm against the existing 8 am to 7 pm. Half charges would be levied from 8 am to 9 am and from 8 pm to 9:30 pm, one-third charges would be between 6 am and 8 am, and also between 9:30 pm to 11 pm. One-fourth charges would be between 11 pm and 6 am.

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The second phase of telecom tariff was scheduled to be implemented from April one, 2000 but TRAI sought time till August 31 as the new regulatory body was set up only early this year.

The previous regulator had decided to implement tariff rebalancing in three phases as the increase in rentals and the reduction of STD/ISD call charges required for rebalancing were found to be too sharp for one-time implementation.

The first phase was implemented in April 1, 1999 and the second phase was due from April 1 this year.

Sikdar said although the effective changes in STD call charges would be less by only nine to 16.5 per cent during the peak hours, the reduction would be from eight to 33 per cent during the off-peak hours. As per the changes effective from October one, peak hour charges would be levied from 9 am to 8 pm against the existing 8 am to 7 pm.

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Half charges would be levied from 8 am to 9 am and from 8 pm to 9:30 pm, one-third charges would be between 6 am and 8 am, and also between 9:30 pm to 11 pm. One-fourth charges would be between 11 pm and 6 am.

According to the existing tariff, half charges are between 7 am to 8 am and 7 pm to 10:30 pm and one-third charges are from 6 am to 7 am and 8:30 pm to 11 pm. One-fourth charges are between 11 pm to 6 am.