Mobile Call rates won’t slash for a little while

Lakhs of youngsters across India on Sunday were up in arms after they learnt that their skyscraper mobile bills will continue to haunt them for at least a couple more months.

Indian telecom regulator TRAI last month sent people across India in a joyful frenzy when it announced that there will be a huge cut in calling rates and that the bills are expected to fall by at least 50%. On Sunday morning TRAI announced that the change is taking longer than usual and that it will be about two more months till they come out with a revised mobile termination.

TRAI Chairman Nripendra Misra said that "We haven't started working on it yet. Right now we are examining on various methodologies, global practices to calculate fresh termination charges. Once we have zeroed in on methods, then we would see what kind of information we need from operators,"

So once TRAI has all the data, the firm will issue a consultation paper and only then jump into public discussions and the recommendations. It is a small delay, but after all, a 50% slash in rates would be a welcome change especially for people who have post paid connections.

And here is what we think could also happen… the iphone 3G could drop in price… because Airtel and Vodafone rates would naturally dip.