TRAI has accepted BSNL’s submission that the 54 per cent tariff reduction in 64 kbps domestic bandwidth is not viable. The new tariffs for this bandwidth will be announced within a month.
Meanwhile, the existing annual tariff of Rs 96,000 will be retained until May-end. Last month, TRAI had reduced the annual ceiling for 64 kbps leased lines to Rs 44,000. These tariffs were to come into effect from May 1. BSNL objected to the new ceiling and pointed out that 64 kbps circuits were being provided through classical circuits and the new managed leased line network-based circuits which had high costs. TRAI did not have the cost data available when it announced the ceiling.
