Editorial – July 2017

Public Interest determines what is acceptable and what is unacceptable, what is desirable and what is contemptible. Mobile Termination Charge (MTC) is both unacceptable and contemptible. First, MTC is anti-consumer. It is a big burden on the consumer and has been so, for many years now. From April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2017, the incumbent operators collected Rs 108,763 crore on account of MTC. And a delay of each month in implementing BAK means a favour of over Rs 10,116 crore @14p x incoming MoU/per month, to these incumbents. Read our cover story for all mathematical calculations on this and the details of costing for voice calls when provided on IP-based networks and why pricing of voice calls is a redundant business case.

Second, MTC is anti-competition. Because the incumbent behaviour has always been like that of an old aristocracy, they forestalled competition through MTC and hence new players always remained on the periphery, until Reliance Jio came along and showed the Telecom Grandees that rent-seeking business model is passé.

Third, the incumbent operators in a very thorough manner abused the facility of deferred payments on spectrum auctions by seeking unsustainable leverages. This was a clever ploy, to mesh the government in its debt repayment schedule, seek exemptions and continue with the highly unjustified exaction of MTC from consumers. Clearly, this has takers and the Telecom Minister’s statement at the meeting of industry stakeholders almost anoints Airtel as ‘primus inter pares’, First Among Equals, in the sector. Sunil Bharti Mittal’s and Manoj Sinha’s utterances seem like mirror images.

Instead of reckoning its overleverages as a fatal flaw, Airtel has blamed the new competitor Reliance Jio, for its financial status. So competition and consumer benefit are made out to be the culprits. It is like trying to find a black cat in a dark room. The cat is not there but the pursuer declares to have found it! It is a fantastic logic, made to appear as customary convention because DoT has become the Patron of Airtel’s arguments and the Punisher of consumer interests. The onward march of technology is like the law of gravitation, undeniable. And it is cheered because it lowers costs and improves living experience. But, this needs tuned-in regulatory frameworks so that convertibility of hi-tech into services of daily use for masses, can happen. Therefore, abolition of MTC is a consumer’s cause. Indeed, it is both common good and common sense.