COAI for six-fold hike in global call termination charges

Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) favours a steep hike in international termination charges to ~3.50 a minute against 53 paise per minute at present. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is currently in the midst of reviewing these rates, paid by foreign carriers for terminating international calls in India. “Today, there is a 20:1 imbalance between incoming and outgoing international calls. In order to adjust the imbalance, you need to go to ~3.50 on a weighted average basis, to correct the arbitrage,” COAI Director General Rajan Mathews told PTI. The COAI has argued there is a need to bridge the gap between blended termination rate paid by the Indian operators for outgoing international calls and the termination rates received by them on international incoming calls. Mathews sought to draw a distinction between termination charge complexities that come into play for domestic and international calls.