The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday sought views on various issues related to revenue sharing arrangements for Intelligent Network Based Calling Card Services.

Trai is of the view that some of the TSPs (Telecom Service Provider) are deliberately trying to kill calling card business prematurely through high access charges.

For this the regulator released a consultation paper on ‘Revenue Sharing Arrangements for Calling Card Services’. The move may result I the reduction of ISD and STD charges.

“This Consultation Paper (CP) provides the relevant background information and discusses the need and methodology to determine the charges to be paid by the National Long Distance Operator (NLDO)/ International Long Distance Operator (ILDO) to the Access Providers for Calling Card Services”, it said.

In the currently prevailing regime, a customer does not have the option to choose its long distance carrier. The customer depends on its Access Provider for NLD/ILD calls. And, it is the Access Provider which chooses the NLDO/ILDO to whom the call is handed over for further carriage based on mutual commercial agreements between them.

“Though customer can choose its access provider but choice of NLDO/ILDO is not available to it. Calling cards will provide a real choice to the consumer for picking an NLDO/ILDO which offers the most competitive tariff for NLD/ILD calls viz. irrespective of the customer’s access provider”, Trai said.