Shourie rolls back tariff, warns of adverse impact

Shourie, who signalled the circumstances that led to the rollback, explained that just the change in pulse rates would cost BSNL Rs 2,600 crore annually and free calls another Rs 876 crore. ‘‘Since telecom expansion at below the district-level is done by BSNL only, this is bound to now slow down,’’ he said.

When asked if the Government had succumbed to pressure from the allies, Shourie said,‘‘The political class in general had protested against the new tariffs.’’

The announcements came after a meeting held by the Prime Minister yesterday on the issue. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, Shourie, and, interestingly, BJP president Venkaiah Naidu. Today, after the announcements, Shourie called on Naidu once again. Sources in the BJP said Naidu was keen on sending a nationwide signal that the BJP was responsible for the rollback.

Earlier addressing mediapersons at the conference, BSNL’s Chairman and Managing Director Prithipal Singh said: ‘‘These new rates are due to the fact that pulse rates for calls from fixed to mobile have been increased from 30 seconds to 60 seconds. But due to the changes required to be made in the telecom software, the changes in pulse rate will be effective from May 17.’’

Shourie said the new changes in tariff and pulse rates would seriously impact the expansion plans especially in the rural telephony and upgradation of telecommunications networks. Since the private operators were concentrating only on metros and larger towns, the impact of BSNL’s decision would be even more pronounced, he said.

Asked if BSNL would be getting any supplementary grants from the government, Shourie said, ‘‘BSNL had asked for Rs 2,300 crore on account of reimbursement of licence fee and spectrum charges but it was turned down.’’

While stating that some of the anomalies in the Interconnect Usage Regime would be addressed by TRAI’s decision to review the regime, Shourie, however, refused to comment on TRAI’s decision. He said the surpluses of BSNL are likely to fall by about Rs 4,000 crore this year on account of drastic fall in long-distance charges. With the latest announcement, the loss would be Rs 1,000 crore which could only be compensated if the tariff grew, he said.