MTNL gets ILD licence; ISD rates could come down further

Public sector telecom service provider MTNL received the much-awaited
international long distance licence on Wednesday, a development which
could signal further lowering of ISD rates as the PSU is gearing up to
carrying its own traffic in the near future.


A senior MTNL official told a news agency that the PSU has signed the
licence agreement with the Department of Telecom on Wednesday and
would now focus on carrying its own ILD traffic, although for some
time the PSU would depend on the other ILD operators' network.



MTNL is currently routing most of its ISD traffic through VSNL.



At present mobile ISD rates to the US, Europe, Gulf and Africa ranges
from Rs 6.40 to 9.20 per minute, while from landline the average rate
is 5.99 per minute to the US.



With its own network coming up, the official said, the PSU's ISD
carriage cost would fall significantly.



This would cut down the PSU's operational cost.



The ISD segment which already has players like state run BSNL besides
private majors like Bharti, Reliance and VSNL, see some more
competition with the entry of MTNL.



The operator of Mumbai and Delhi circle is also building an undersea
cable project to carry its own ISD traffic.



Its erstwhile partner BSNL has pulled out of the project, which is to
connect India to Singapore and Malaysia.