Indian Minister Says Telecom Companies Should Only Charge For Data

bhagwad writes "In the US, telecom carriers are trying their best to hold on to depleting voice revenues. Over in India, the telecom minister urged carriers to stop charging for voice calls and derive all their revenues only from data plans. Is this kind of model sustainable, where voice becomes an outmoded and free technology, and carriers turn entirely into dumb pipes which have no control over what passes over them? This is a step forward and hopefully will make Internet service more like a utility."

Comments

Re:subsidize phone calls

[Intrepid imaginaut]

I think he's probably saying that voice and text messages are hugely overpriced. I don't know about voice but SMSes certainly are.

Re:In coming calls are free in India.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

BTW typical airtime charges for prepaid phones: 1 Rupee per minute for out going calls. Incoming calls are free. Incoming texts are free. Outgoing texts are 0.5 Rs per text. Data charges are typically 100 Rs for 2 GB. Consider 1 Rupee to be 2 cents in USA. International calls were 6 Rs per minute. But this trip they had a promotion and I got USA for 2 Rs per minute.

Re:subsidize phone calls

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.freegovernmentcellphones.net/basics/how-do-i-get-a-free-phone

Re:It's ALL data...

[MrZilla]

But it's not, exactly. Unless you are using LTE, voice calls are still set up as if they were circuit switched, including allocating resources throughout the network. Only data calls are handled as pure packet switched best effort calls.

But the biggest reason for separating voice call costs is probably that if you are calling someone who uses a different operator, your operator needs to pay for the use of that network (weather mobile or land line). At least around here, calling someone who is using the same operator is usually free, but calling someone using another operator will cost you a per minute charge.

Re:subsidize phone calls

[mspohr]

I assume you are being cynical (with good cause).
However, Skype calls (better quality than standard voice channels) actually use about 0.5 MByte of data per minute.
Where I am now (traveling in a developing country), they charge about US$0.14 per megabyte (2 minute call) and the same per minute for local calls. Of course, with Skype, you can call anywhere for the same cost so yes, data calls are cheaper.

47% lie stated often enough is still a lie

[voss]

The program he's talking about in fact serves about 12 million people which is about 4% of the population not 47%.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kimkomando/story/2012-06-01/low-income-lifeline-plan/55315532/1

Re:subsidize phone calls

[SpzToid]

Here is an editorial that works to explain the carriers' boycott against Skype, (and vis-à-vis Microsoft's ownership, along with Nokia's position).

http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2011/09/why-do-carriers-hate-skype-let-me-count-the-ways.html