TRAI has finalised the access deficit charge (ADC) paid by pri vate operators to BSNL at 1.5 per cent of gross revenue, which also includes revenue from international calls. The move is expected to bring down both national and international long distance (ILD) tariffs drastically. For ILD calls, TRAI has retained ADC on a per call basis. Incoming ILD calls would attract an ADC of Rs 1.60 per minute while outgoing calls would have an ADC levy of Re 0.80 per minute. A ceiling of Re 0.70 per minute has been fixed for carriage charges.

Termination charges have been retained at Re 0.30 per minute for both mobile and fixed line phones. TRAI has exempted inclusion of revenue from rural operations from the total earnings for purposes of ADC. While the long-awaited reduction in ADC has been welcomed by the industry, it would mean an annual revenue loss of Rs 18 billion to BSNL.