International call rates may head towards south as the state-run MTNL on monday invited fresh tenders from Indian ILD operators seeking lower carriage rates for transmitting its outgoing ISD traffic. Currently, Tatas-owned VSNL carries the traffic for most of the ISD volume of the navratna company. MTNL officials said the Tata company enjoyed "preferred carrier" status for a long period from BSNL and MTNL which does not exist any longer.
MTNL sources said that only by calling for fresh bids the PSU would be able to get the lowest bidder to carry its traffic and if VSNL wants to regain the volume, it would have to offer lower rates than it was offering at present. MTNL retains the right to route its outgoing ISD calls through the least cost arrangement, destination wise, they said. Currently, international rates hover around Rs 6.40-Rs 12 a minute depending on the destination and if one operator induces a cut in rates, the spiralling effect forces others to cut correspondingly to remain in the market.
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