To guarantee level playing field for themselves, the new mobile operators have urged the telecom regulatory body, TRAI to lessen the mobile termination charges.

But on the other hand, the subsisting telecom operators are asking for the highest rates possible.

Presently, the three major pan-India telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular charge a termination fee of 30 paise per minute from an operator on whose network the call ends.

Termination charges are charges paid by one operator to another for facilitating receiving or making calls.

The new entrants including Datacom, Unitech, Swan Telecom, Shyam, Loop and Reliance Communications want TRAI to cut termination charges to 10 paise per minute.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is making constant discussions with a range of constituencies of the industry.

TRAI wants to reach the final decision before next week’s open house session as the new GSM players asked that termination charges either be eliminated or kept below 10 paise per minute to compete with the subsisting players.

But, the existing operators feel that any severe cut in charges would have an effect on their roll out plans in the rural region as this would directly reduce revenue.