The complete opening of Internet telephony, as recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) a few days ago, will not only lead to steep fall in all type of call charges, be it local, national or international, but also help in increasing broadband penetration, an area where India lags behind.

Industry analysts say person using Internet telephony to make calls would see his call charges falling by as much as 50-60 per cent compared to a normal telephone call today. This will benefit an ordinary home user as well as corporates and other industries alike. Internet telephony would help telecom penetration in rural India.

Till now Internet telephony was allowed only between personal computers or to mobile or landlines abroad. But complete Internet telephony would mean that calls can also be made to landlines and mobiles in India as well as abroad. To start using Internet telephony, just an adapter is needed that converts a regular landline with broadband connection to a net phone.

Read the full story in ‘The Hindu’ here.