Trai Reduces tarrif for dedicated broadband lines

Telecom regulator Trai has reduced ceiling tariffs of dedicated broadband lines, called domestic leased circuits (DLCs), mainly used by business houses and telecom operators, by up to 60 percent.

The revised tariff regime for DLCs will come in to effect from August 1, 2014, Trai said in a statement.

Domestic Leased circuits are dedicated connections between service providers facility to customers premise and are separate from general public networks.

DLCs form crucial building block for the delivery of various services like e-commerce, e-governance, internet access for the masses and knowledge based industries like BPO, IT and ITes, the regulator said.

Besides, telecom service providers who do not have sufficient transmission infrastructure in any area also lease DLCs to provide various telecom services.

The reduction of ceiling tariffs by TRAI applies to Point-to-Point Domestic Leased Circuits (P2P-DLCs) of capacities ranging from E1 (2Mbps), DS3 (45Mbps) and STM-1 (155Mbps). Apart from this, this new change has also now brought DLCs from the STM-4 (622Mbps) capacity under tariff regulation.

TRAI has said that it is reducing charges on 2Mbps leased lines of 5kms to 500kms from Rs 8.5 lakhs per annum to Rs 3.41 lakhs per annum. Furthermore, for 45Mbps connections, the rate will be dropped considerably from to Rs 26.54 lakh per annum from Rs 61.59 lakh per annum.

As for those leased circuit lines which have the capacity of 622Mbps, TRAI has not made any alterations. Moreover, the body has also revealed that DLCs of less than 2Mbps have been left under forbearance.