TRAI which had decided not to intervene with SMS Tariffs has asked the Telcos on why their rates have not come down with the fall in Wireless call prices.
TRAI is specially unhappy with Inter-Circle and premium VAS SMS costs which range between Rs 2 to Rs 10. In case if the Telcos fail to provide satisfactory answer or doesn’t pick up the clue that TRAI wants to see the tariffs lower, TRAI will intervene and fix ceiling rates.
A GSM telco argued that they share the revenue with content owner in case of premium SMSes. However, in case of SMSes sent for contests or quizzes, there is no content involved and that forms the bulk of the market.
GSM users sent about 26 SMSes a month in quarter ending March-08 down from 28 SMSes in the quarter ending Dec-07.
