It’s finally happening. Starting 1 April, the Access Deficit Charges (ADC) on domestic calls has been phased out. For international calls it has been halved to 50 paise from the present Re 1. ADC is a charge that private operators have been paying state-owned BSNL to help roll-out telecom services in rural areas since May 2003. Till date BSNL should have received close to Rs 20,000 crore from ADC.
Already, the bigger private operators like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar have agreed to pass on the benefits to the consumer.
But, does it help the subscribers. Not really. That’s because it makes a Re 1 call cheaper by—well—0.75%. That’s not something substantial that will show up in the bill. The real gainers are the operators. It is estimated that operators will save close to Rs 2,700 crore. That’s something to celebrate about.
The real loser in this will definitely be BSNL. However, the government has promised to allocate Rs 2,000 crore from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
Will that mean the rural roll-out will get slowed down? Unlikely. As all operators have realised, the growth is happening only in the smaller towns. The metros and the big towns are close to saturation. So, ADC or not, the march to rural India by private telcos will continue unabated. After all that is where the gravy will come from.
1 comment:
That adc reduction would benefit consumers was a red herring created by private operators to advance their own cause. Private operators had never bothered about rural and will never be. All this talk of rolling out in rural areas is just in the air. Just go to any remote area and see if your Airtel or Vodafone works. BSNL phones do work for sure. Ultimately its only BSNL that rules the hinterlands. Theres no reason for anyone to cheer the adc cut expect the private operators.
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