ILD calls likely to become cheaper by March 2006

International long distance (ILD) calls are likely to become cheaper by March 2006 as BSNL is set to commission four international gateways, marking its independent foray into ILD telephony.

Currently, BSNL routes its ILD traffic through other private ILD operators including Reliance Infocomm, Bharti and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL). Bypassing the private operators will help the public sector telecom company to save millions of rupees that can be passed on to consumers in the form of lower tariffs. BSNL is estimated to be paying about Rs 260 million per month to private operators for carrying its ILD traffic. Doing away with this could lead to a drop of at least Re 0.50 per minute in international call rates.