Still A Long Distance

2005: A peak-time Delhi-Mumbai std call costs Rs 10 a minute, one-third of today’s rates. Two more years down the line, it’s down to local call rates. Pipe dreams?

Maybe not. "STD calls at local call rates are very much possible," says former MTNL chairman S. Rajgopalan. "Today, when a customer pays Rs 100 for an STD call, the cost to DoT (Department of Telecommunications) is only Rs 25." No wonder, the DoT has a Rs 7,500-crore surplus on a turnover of Rs 17,700 crore, of which Rs 12,500 crore comes from long-distance services.