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Navika Kumar
NEW DELHI, SEPT 24: There is panic at MTNL's corporate office in Delhi. The reason - the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) yesterday returned MTNL's mobile phones which it had been using over the last year when MTNL first began running these services as a pilot project. The TRAI move comes in the wake of MTNL being refused permission to commercially launch their mobile phone service based on a wireless technology.
What has caused a flutter in the MTNL is the fact that with TRAI returning its own phone, an order to suspend the project may not be far behind. If this happens, what will MTNL do with the half a dozen union ministers and over fifty senior bureaucrats who are using these phones -- popularly referred to as the poor man's cellphone where a call on the mobile phone costs Rs 1.40 for a three-minute call and a Rs 10,000 security deposit for the sleek handset.
Among the ministers who are currently using these phones are Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, former communications ministerJagmohan and minister of state for communications Kabindra Purkayastha.
The MTNL mobile phone service which would have given cellphone operators a run for their money was slated to charge Rs 1.40 for a three minute call, compared with the cellphone charges which are currently Rs 6 per minute but will come down to Rs 4 per by November. The MTNL is already operating these services on a pilot basis in Delhi which allows free incoming calls on the small mobile phone.
Cellphone operators however defend their stand saying that this is unfair competition that is being unleashed on them. Says a private cellphone operator, ``where is the harm in MTNL participating in an open discussion on the issue which is what the TRAI has proposed to do by stating its intention of bringing out a consultation paper followed by open house discussions.''
The MTNL's arguement on the other hand is that the process will unnecessarily delay its launch affecting its GDR fortunes next month. Moreover, they say that the government hasissued them a licence for the service which comes under the ambit of a cellular service, which cannot be questioned by the TRAI.
The MTNL is seeking legal opinion on whether the TRAI has the right to stop it from launching a service for which we have a valid licence and where its tariffs are well below the ceilings prescribed in the TRAI's tariff order.
Normally, every operator of telephone services, is required to file their tariff package with the TRAI, five working days before it is commercially launched. The MTNL first applied for clearance of its tariff package on August 23. This was followed by some more questions and replies from each side.
Finally, in its letter to the MTNL on September 20, the TRAI disallowed the commercial launch of MTNL's mobile service till a few issues were resolved including how the new mobile service envisaged implementing the Calling Party Pays (CPP) regime and cost calculations on the basis of which tariffs have been derived by MTNL. For this, the TRAI has said it willhave to go through a consultative process.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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