The Hutchison-Essar Group has reportedly applied to DoT for a national long distance (NLD) licence. This move is part of the operator's efforts to rein in the hefty carrier charges it currently pays to NLD operators for routing mobile STD calls originating on Hutch networks. The NLD licence will enable the company to lease fibre capacity at a fraction of the carrier charges and beef up its tariff margins on long distance calls. The group is unlikely to invest in a new NLD network and lay more fibre. It may look at the option of leasing capacity from the existing NLD players.