Videocon Telecom Slashes National Roaming Rates

New Delhi, May 4, 2015: Videocon Telecom, In line with the TRAI’s Telecom Tariff (60th Amendment) Order, Videocon Telecom has slashed the National Roaming rates effective 1st May 2015 as per the TRAI’s guidelines. 
The drop in tariff is to the extent of 75% on Local and National SMS; 40% on Incoming calls; and 23% & 20% on STD & Local calls resp while roaming.
For Outgoing local voice call while on national roaming, the telco has slashed the price to Re. 0.80 per minute from the previous Re. 1.00 per minute. Videocon Telecom subscribers can now make Outgoing long distance (inter-circle) voice call while on national roaming at Rs. 1.15 per minute with a 23% price drop from earlier Rs. 1.50 per minute charge. The price of Outgoing long distance (inter-circle) Short Message Services (SMS) while on national roaming has been slashed to Re. 0.38 per SMS from the earlier price of Rs.1.50 per SMS.
This revised tariff will be effective May 1, 2015 as per the TRAI’s guidelines. The telco continues to offer Free Incoming calls while Roaming on Videocon Telecom Network by default for all its Subscribers.

Item	Existing tariffs	Revised Tariffs	% Drop
Outgoing local voice call while on national roaming	Re. 1.00 per minute	Re. 0.80 per minute	20%
Outgoing long distance (inter-circle) voice call while on national roaming	Rs. 1.50 per minute	Rs. 1.15 per minute	23%
Incoming voice call while on national roaming	Re. 0.75 per minute	Re. 0.45 per minute	40%
Outgoing local Short Message Services (SMS) while on national roaming	Re. 1.00 per SMS	Re. 0.25 per SMS	75%/td>
Outgoing long distance (inter-circle) Short Message Services (SMS) while on national roaming	Rs.1.50 per SMS	Re. 0.38 per SMS	75%

About Videocon Telecom
Videocon Telecom, the next-generation GSM mobile service network was launched by $10 billion Videocon Group. The company has partnered with global technology leaders to create a robust infrastructure featuring future ready mobile technologies. Powered by the most advanced GSM-EDGE network, Videocon Telecom aims to redefine the Indian mobile telecommunications industry by leveraging a combination of the parent company’s strong brand recall and retail reach with a spirit of innovation and customer centricity. Videocon endeavours to transform the life of every Indian consumer by changing the very paradigm of the way he or she communicates.
Videocon Telecom today symbolizes the market innovations and customer offerings rooted in the demands and needs of the Indian consumer. Videocon Telecom has notched up a subscriber base of over 9.5 million subscribers within 2 years of operations, a testament to the brand’s customer focused strategy. The company has invested significantly in research and development as well as in customer service to offer consumers innovative products and a superlative experience.

Videocon Telecom advocates Uniform Spectrum Usage Charges, however only on spectrum procured thru auction, that too limited to recover administrative charges only.

~ Favors Uniform SUC regime but feels SUC charges should be applicable for spectrum obtained through auction only and should be levied @ 1% of AGR to recover administrative expenses, similar to BWA license terms ~

~Recommends lower SUC rates for new players as an incentive to ensure level playing with incumbents, hence greater choice for customers~

New Delhi: January 6, 2014: Videocon Telecom, the telecommunication arm of the $4 Billion Videocon Group, favors uniform SUC, but only on spectrum procured thru auction and that too to the extent of recovering administrative expenses similar to the current BWA license terms.

The telco is of the opinion that in the earlier regime, spectrum was allocated administratively where there was no payment made for spectrum allocation by any operator, hence there was a logic behind charging slab based SUC in accordance to amount of spectrum allocated. In the current regime, however, spectrum is allocated thru an open market mechanism, to derive the exact market value of the spectrum. Therefore it is fair that SUC charges should levied only to the extent to cover the administrative expenses towards the management of the spectrum.

Under the current SUC policy, charges are levied according to the amount of airwaves held by the operators, and are charged between 3% to 8% basis the spectrum allocation. In short, the Incumbents who are holding large amount of spectrum will end up paying SUC at the upper end of the range.

TRAI on this has recommended uniform spectrum usage charge (SUC) of 3% to 5% of revenue earned by mobile operators from telecom services from April 1, 2014. The uniform SUC, if implemented as per recommendations made by TRAI, will be favorable to the incumbents.

The views of telco has come in just before the TRAI’s recommendations are to examined by the Telecom Commission on levying of an uniform annual fee on spectrum usage.

According to Mr. Arvind Bali, Director and CEO, Videocon Telecom “In the earlier license regime, spectrum was allocated administratively, where there was no payment by the operator for spectrum allocation, hence the reason of a slab based Spectrum usage charges was logical. However, in the current regime, spectrum is allocated thru auction, where the operator is paying the market value of the spectrum, thus SUC to the extent to cover the administrative expenses should be payable, which is the case of BWA license terms.

The new policy recommendation is only beneficial to bigger operators as a flat SUC rate will bring them huge monetary savings on the spectrum administratively obtained in the earlier regime.

Worldwide, telecom policies support newer operators with various advantages and I feel that the same should be followed in the Indian telecom sector as well. Any policy should promote level playing field for all, and we recommend lower SUC for new players to ensure level playing field for all and hence greater choice to customers.