Cellular operators are using the revised interconnect usage charges (IUC) as an excuse to raise their tariffs, says the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Private cellular operators revised their tariffs upwards starting Sunday, when the revised IUC regime was implemented. Interconnect charges are charges payable by a telecom operator for using another operator’s network.“As per data available with the TRAI, we had found that there was enough margin available with the operators to maintain the prevailing level of tariffs after the revised IUC was implemented,” said TRAI member D.P.S. Seth. “If you add up the termination charges, access deficit charges and the carriage charges, for each distance slab, which basically constitute the cost per call for various operators, they are still below the tariff levels that prevailed,” explained another TRAI official. If the operators want to increase tariffs, since the tariffs are forborne, they are free to do so, but it is incorrect on their part to blame the reviewed IUC regime for increase in tariffs, said the official.
