ISPs now clamor for termination charge

The TRAI recommendations on interconnect charges for telcos have left one set of service providers--ISPs--high and dry who are now clamoring for their share of flesh. And why not. Considering that ISPs generated revenues worth Rs 1,755 crore for basic service operators (BSO) in 2001 during off peak hours. "We should be accorded a terminating charge from BSOs for calls that terminate on our networks. This would be beneficial for both us and the BSOs," said Amitabh Singhal, Secretary,
ISPAI. 

As things stand currently, the reduction of pulse rate from three minutes to two minutes is going to have a wide spread ramification for the sector, "The revenue model of ISPs is directly related to the surfing time by customers," said R Ramaraj, MD, Sify Ltd. "With the reduction in the pulse rate, we expect the average surfing time to come down from one hour 10 minutes to about 40 minutes, directly impacting our bottomlines," he added.

In fact, it has been an old standing demand by ISPs for a revenue-share model with BSOs for the traffic generated by them.

"While the average call holding time is two-three minutes in a voice call, an ISP customer surfs for a minimum of one and a half hour. The tariff generated by such calls is entirely pocketed by BSOs. The time has come for a revenue share with the ISP industry also," added
Singhal.

ISPs are sitting together on February 5 to chalk out their strategy to offset the possible impact on the sector. According to Ramaraj, the recommendations from the sector are going to be two-fold: provide for differential pulse rate for ISPs and provide a revenue share to the sector from BSO for calls generated by their customers.

TRAI has recommended that BSOs charge the same rate of Rs 12 per hour during off peak hours for data connectivity.

During peak hours, the current rate stands at Rs 24 per hours which is expected to go up to Rs 36 per hour when the new recommendations come into force from April. ISPs are expected to ask for a flat rate of Rs 12 per hour throughout the day for data calls.

Balaka Baruah Aggarwal

(CNS)