Mobile bills to go down as Trai cuts call termination charges to 6 p/min

Agencies
September 20, 2017

New Delhi, Sept 20: Indian telecom regulator TRAI on Tuesday came out with a regulation cutting call termination charges from mobile to mobile by over half to 6 paise per minute effective from October 1. The measure drew stiff opposition from a majority of telecom operators who plan to seek legal redressal.

The sector regulator also plans to phase out Interconnection Usage Charges (IUC) by January 1, 2020.

"For mobile to mobile, termination charge has been reduced from 14 paise per minute to 6 paise per minute with effect from October 1, 2017," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement.

"Such a revision in the mobile termination charge is in line with the international trends."

Domestic termination charges are the charges payable by a telecom service provider (TSP) whose subscriber originates the call, to the TSP in whose network the call terminates.

TRAI further added: "From January 1, 2020 onwards the termination charge for all types of domestic calls shall be zero."

The TRAI paper said: "The elimination of IUC will result in direct benefit to customers through lower tariffs."

It said for other types of calls (such as wire-line to mobile, wire-line to wire-line and wire-line to mobile), the termination charge would continue to remain zero.

The TRAI said: "Further, the cost of termination of calls will drastically come down over a period of two years and very small residual value, if any, can be absorbed by the TSPs in their tariff offerings. As a result, the Authority prescribes a Bill and Keep regime for the wireless to wireless calls effective from the January 1, 2020."

The prevailing Interconnection Usage Charges (IUC) Regulation was notified on February 23, 2015 and came into effect from March 1, 2015.

This regulation of TRAI will give a big jolt to the incumbent TSPs like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular who said a lesser IUC regime will be detrimental for the industry. However, new entrant in the industry Reliance Jio has always demanded zero termination charges.

Reacting to TRAI decision, Cellular Operators' Association of India's Director General Rajan S. Mathews told IANS: "Clearly this is a disastrous tariff order. We have indicated earlier that the regulator has to be transparent about how it is arriving at a number. This massive reduction is disastrous for the financial health of the sector. Majority of our members will look for legal redressal."

He added that customers will not be benefitted from this.

Earlier Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao had urged the Indian government not to reduce mobile termination charges further.

In a letter dated August 22, Colao said: "On mobile termination charges, we are seriously alarmed to see reports that the Regulator is considering a reduction in MTC at a time when the industry is facing such immense hardships. Any reduction in MTC risks large scale site shut-down of already unprofitable sites in rural India and which would greatly diminish the population coverage of mobile telephony."

Interconnection allows subscribers, services and networks of one service provider to be accessed by subscribers, services and networks of the other service providers. If networks are efficiently interconnected, subscribers of one network are able to seamlessly communicate with those of another network or access the services offered by other networks.

The TRAI said it would keep a close watch on the developments in the sector particularly with respect to the adoption of new technologies and their impact on termination costs.

"The Authority, if it deems it necessary, may revisit the aforementioned scheme for termination charge applicable on wireless to wires calls after one year from the date of implementation of the regulation"," it added.

According to industry sources, if the IUC is slashed by 6 paise per minute, on an annualized basis Reliance Jio will make a savings of Rs 5,000 crore. Airtel will make a loss of Rs 2,000 crore, Vodafone Rs 1,500 crore, Idea Rs 1,200 crore, while Reliance Communications and Aircel will benefit by Rs 250 crore.

If the IUC is completely done away with then Reliance Jio will make additional savings of over Rs 4,000 crore. Airtel will make a loss of Rs 1,500 crore, Vodafone and Idea (merged entity) will make loss of around Rs 2,200 crore. However, Reliance Communications and Aircel (merged entity) will benefit by Rs 350 crore.

Comments

Sandesh
 - 
Wednesday, 20 Sep 2017

Now almost everything free. Still decreasing...! Is there any option to increase duration of days, like extending from 24 to 36 or 48 for single day...! cant complete calls

Danish
 - 
Wednesday, 20 Sep 2017

All mobile providers making us to spend more and more on recharge. As per my personal opinion, i used to recharge with 10-50. maximum 100. Now 10 card or flexi they wont do and all offers and validity date extending recharge increased much more higher. We cant avoid that and we will send that, they know

Kumar
 - 
Wednesday, 20 Sep 2017

Jio made visible effect on internet charges. Now almost free. Still all mobile providers getting good profits.

 

Cant imagine that how much they earned/looted before jio launch

Ganesh
 - 
Wednesday, 20 Sep 2017

In the name of GST, even mobile providers also looting much. If we are recharge for 50, we will get only after deducting 10-11 rupees. And call charges also high. Because of Jio internet charges came down

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 4,2020

Mangaluru, Aug 4: The Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy has announced the names of the winners of its annual honorary awards (Gaurava Prashasti and Gaurava Puraskara) for the years 2019 and 2020.

Rahim Uchil, the president of the Academy announced the names at a press conference in the city today. Beary Academy registrar Poornima and member Shamsheer Budoli were also present in the press meet. 

Gaurava Prasasthi-2020 winners are: Basheer Ahmed Kinya (Beary literature), Veena Mangaluru (Beary cinema, drama and art) and Siddique Manjeshwara (Beary organisation and social service) 

Gaurava Puraskara-2020 winners are: Dr Mohammed Ismail (medicine), T A Mohammed Asif (education), Iliyas Mangaluru (social service), Abdul Rasheed aka Rash Beary (Beary organisation) and Safwan Shah Bahrain (young talent). 

Gaurava Prashasti-2019 winners are: Abdul Rehman Kutthethur (Beary literature), Ismail Tannirbhavi (Beary art) and M Ahmed Bava Moidin (Beary organisation and social service).

Gaurava Puraskara-2019 winners are: Abdul Razzak Ananthady (Beary education), T S Hussain (Beary literature), Abdul Majeed Suralpady (General), Asif Karnad (social service) and Ali Kunhi Paare (Beary organisation). 

The Academy’s "Gaurava Prashasti consists of Rs 50,000 cash prize, shawl, garland and citation, while "Gaurava Puraskara" consists of Rs 10,000 cash prize, shawl, garland and citation.

Mr Uchil said that the awards will be conferred in a formal function after discussing the dates with chief minister once the covid-19 situation comes under control. Even though the winners for the year 2018 were announced, they weren’t conferred on the achievers. Hence those awards also will be conferred in the same ceremony, he said.

About the winners:

Basheer Ahmed Kinya: He has been involved with the Beary music sector since the last 21 years in the form of singer, and poet. He has provided lyrics for over 150 Beary audio cassettes and also sang them. His first audio cassette, Maskattoru Kallas' had created a record by getting sold out within four to five days. He has also created several non-stop cassettes and Duf songs. 
 
Veena Mangaluru: She has acted in the first Beary cinema. She has acted in over a thousand plays in different languages. 'Mami Marmolu', Kurfat Katte/Amadakaro Chiri, and Shamimarabal are some of the plays she has acted in. 
 
Siddique Manjeshwar: A social worker and activist. Through social media, he led a blood donation campaign and thereby helped thousands of people.  There are over 10,000 members in his 54 WhatsApp groups who are ready for blood donation. His ‘Blood Donate Mangaluru’ drive has been able to collect over 26,000 units of blood and conducting over 250 blood donation camps so far. He was honoured with a special award of the chief minister of Kerala. 

Dr Muhammed Ismail: Dr Muhammed Ismail completed his medical education in 1989 and has been serving different hospitals since the last 30 years being a highly respected doctor. He also is an honorary medical officer of the Wenlock Hospital Mangaluru. He has served as an office-bearer of Indian Medical Association, Karnataka Medico-legal Society etc.
 
T A Mohammed Asif: He has been providing education to over 360 students from LKG to the eighth standard through Adarsh Group of educational institutions. He is also active in the social sector and has distributed school bags and books to poor students. During the lockdown, he distributed free food items worth about Rs 10 lac.
 
Ilyas Mangaluru: He had fought against the menace of dowry. He has got over 500 girls married through an organization, 'Dowry Free Nikah'. He has also created an app, Free Nikah, which helps boys and girls to find suitable matches. 
 
Rash Beary: Abdul Rasheed aka Rash Beary is known for using social media to help the people. By establishing 'Beary Nikah Helpline' he has helped several poor Beary women to get married. He also provides free counselling services to couples from all religions. With the help of donors, he keeps distributing clothes and food among needy.

Safwan Shah Bahrain: A well-known Beary singer, he has sung several songs in past one decade. He has been organizing various Beary programmes in Bahrain for past eight years. He had undertaken the adventure of jumping from the air from a height of 13,000 feet with the Indian flag in hand. 

Abdul Razack Ananantady: A PU college lecturer by profession, he has conducted over 500 pre-exam training camps and functioned as a resource person in leadership and personality development training. He has been conducting training and lectures for students and their parents on learning nutrition, and life values. His addresses on education and cultural aspects have been aired by Akashvani.

Abdul Rahiman Kuthethur: He was the co-editor or Beary Kannada - English dictionary and editor of the first-ever Beary grammar book released in 2019. He also is a member of the experts' committee on the Beary language textbook. He has translated Panchatantra stories, Sarvajna Vachanas etc into Beary language and published collection of poems.

Ismail Tannirbavi: He is known as a Beary theatre personality, who started acting at the age of 17. He has acted in over 300 plays including Beary, Tulu and Kannada. He has been in the theatre since the last 55 year and his plays have been presented in countries like Muscat and Kuwait. 
 
Ahmed Bawa Moidin: A social worker and member of the Beary Study chair. He also is the life member of Beary Sahitya Parishad and member of Human Ethical Committee of Mangalore University. He was the founder vice president of Mangalore Merchant Associate and member of divisional railway users consultative/committee. He has donated blood 53 times. 

 T S Hussain: Hussain is a veteran Beary writer who has defied blindness. He faced many difficulties and challenges in life and also met with an accident in 2008. Because of this accident, his eyesight had become very weak. He continued with the creation of works with determination in spite of failing eyesight with help from friends. He has authored two works and was appreciated for their content. Thereafter, he authored two more works. In 2018, he wrote another work.
 
Abdul Majeed Suralpady: A social worker and activist, he has served in various organizations. He served as the president of Suralpady government higher primary school for 21 years. He also served as the president of the educational committee of South Karnataka Sunni Centre's Al Ihsan English Medium School and got government recognition for the school. He set up PU college for girls and laid two-way road at Kaikamba besides bus shelter, toilet, drinking water system and building for police check post.
 
Apatbandhava Asif Karnad: He has been serving as an ambulance driver for the last ten years. He readily carries dead bodies and performs funeral. and done so for over a thousand bodies so far. Whenever he comes across mentally unsound people on the road, he gives them a wash and admits them to Ashrams. He has also been maintaining Maimoon Foundation Apatbhandhava Sycho Rehabilitation Centre.
 
Alikunhi Pare: He is the founder president of 'Melthene', a forum of Beary writers and artists. He has also served social, literary, organizational and religious sectors. He has been identified with several organizations including Mangaluru taluk Yuvajana Okkota and Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Muslim Central Committee.

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coastaldigest.com news network
April 30,2020

Bengaluru,  Apr 30: As many as 30 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Karnataka from April 29, 5:00 pm to April 30, 5:00 pm, taking the total number of cases to 565, informed the State Health Department on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,718 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 33,050 in the country.

A total of 630 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, as per the latest data provided by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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News Network
May 4,2020
Bengaluru, May 4: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has said that the free bus service for migrant workers has been extended by two days in the state.
 
The service was supposed to end on Tuesday, but it has now been extended till Thursday.
 
The Chief Minister has appealed to workers and other people that they can return to their hometowns without having to gather in large numbers at bus stops.
 
He said, "951 KSRTC buses on Sunday were provided in the state for the travel of migrants. About 1,500 passengers have already gone in 50 busses."
 
On Saturday, an estimated 16,500 passengers in 550 buses left for their homes.
 
On Monday two trains will leave for Rajasthan and Bihar, the Chief Minister said.
 
He said in a press release that everyone will be provided with free meals and water before the journey.

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