TRCSL considering cut in termination rates

The Telecommunications and Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) is mulling a cut to mobile termination rates (MTRs) in the country, and to that end has published a White Paper on the matter. Since their introduction back in 2010 – to replace the outmoded ‘sending-network keeps all’ (SKA) regime – MTRs have been pegged at LKR0.50 (USD0.0028) per minute for on-net/off-net calls and LKR0.15 for SMS. However, the regulator is now considering a reduction which could benefit end users by driving down call charges. ‘Reducing of this rate is directly beneficial to the consumer. This was introduced a decade ago and it needs to be revised now,’ Bharti Airtel Lanka MD/CEO Jinesh Hegde told the Mirror Business newspaper during a recent interview. He also revealed that the actual cost of call termination currently stands at less than LKR0.03-LKR0.04 a minute.