SAARC: Near, but still far when it comes to call tariff

Calls to the US, UK, Canada, and
few other countries are cheaper than local calls in Pakistan. However, when it
comes to SAARC countries the tariff varies from Rs 6 to 15.

"Around 500 mn minutes of ISD traffic per month comes from
Pakistan, out of which PTCL enjoys the largest share of 60%," claims Syed Najam
Ali, senior manager government autonomous bodies, SME & channels, Pakistan
Telecommunications.

Pakistan is the largest market in SAARC, after India. The
total number of telecom subscribers stood at 97.59 mn by the end of March 2009,
with a teledensity of 60.60%. Most of them are wireless subscribers-91.44 mn.
The country adds 0.23 mn subscribers every month, both wireline and wireless.

The ISD tariff in the country varies from Rs 0.90 per min to
the US, Canada and the UK; and Rs 15 per minute for small countries or those
which have a strong incumbent monopoly, and therefore a higher settlement rate.
Amongst the SAARC countries, the rate for India is the lowest. It varies from Rs
6 per minute to Rs 8 per minute, operator to operator.

Licensed long distance international (LDI) operators are free
to use any technology, and fix their own rates for outgoing calls. Incoming call
rates in the country are indirectly controlled by the access promotion charge,
and this is the area which acts as the incentive for the gray operators.

Roaming charges in the country depend on the tariff charged
by the operator in the country of origin. These operators negotiate a low rate
between themselves, but the benefit is not passed to the customer. As a result,
customer continues to pay a high tariff.

Interestingly, a Pakistani subscriber roaming in the UAE and
Saudi Arabia pays much less than what a Saudi or UAE subscriber pays to roam in
Pakistan.

Landline

Similar is the case for the landline users. For countries like Australia,
Belgium, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, South
Korea, Spain, the tariff rate is Rs 2 per minute. While for India, which shares
more than a 1,000 km border with Pakistan, it is four times higher at Rs 8 per
minute.

The higher traffic between the SAARC countries, especially
between India and Pakistan, was the result of hostility between both the
countries. The countries share a border with each other. But the tariff is still
high.

"When tensions de-escalate and sense prevails, call rates
within the SAARC countries will also have to come down to nearly local call
levels. Roamers will have to be treated as domestic subscribers," says Sultan Ul
Arfeen, chairman, TeleCard, Pakistan.

Some of the countries in SAARC have common operators. If they
take initiative, the tariff could be reduced. This worked very well for Zain in
the countries that they operate. It worked between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan,
and a visitor is immediately allocated a local number without changing the SIM.
With fiber connectivity all around, the lower call rates will fill up the pipes.
"Traffic grew several fold within no time," points out Sultan.

Akhilesh Shukla

akhileshs@cybermedia.co.in