The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has floated a tender to appoint an agency for calculating the liability of transit carriage charges on individual operators, including Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), according to news reports. The last date for submission of the technical proposals for this tender is March 4, 2011, following which, financial bids will be opened for participants who qualify.
Prior to this, the Supreme Court, on August 30, 2010, had asked TRAI to fix the liability on individual operators. The regulator had challenged the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal?s (TDSAT) ruling which upheld BSNL’s view that transit carriage charges (TCC) should be calculated on call distance and not on per minute basis.
Currently, a telecom area is defined in three major parts: short distance charging area (SDCA), which is smaller than a district, long distance charging area (LDCA), which is equivalent to size of a district and telecom circle which is generally equivalent to size of a state. As per the regulation, a service provider cannot take a call directly to the SDCA level. An operator can only take calls up to BSNL?s level 2 TAX exchange, which falls under LDCA.
From this exchange, telephone calls are routed to SDCA level to reach end consumer. A service provider has to pay Re 0.15 per minute for this part of transmitting calls. The Supreme Court has asked TRAI to fix the TCC liability of individual service providers by analysing call data records.
Following this order, TRAI is required to collect call data records and compute TCC liability on each operator, which is a substantial task. The agency to be appointed by TRAI will be required to keep these records till the case is completed.
