TRAI is planning to shift to a capacity or bandwidth-based interconnect usage charge (IUC) regime from the current distance and usage-based system by January 2007. Call termination and carriage costs will be eliminated under the new regime and operators connecting to another company’s network will have to pay for the interconnect port’s capacity at one go. The port canthen be used for unlimited call carriages and termination, thereby eliminating the need for metering and billing. This will enable easy transition to next-generation networks. However, the revenue department is planning to introduce a service tax on IUC, which could increase the overall burden on mobile and fixed telephone users.
