MONEY»
VoIP racketeers fleecing govt
KATHMANDU, SEP 08 -
The telecom operators in the country are losing revenue of whopping Rs 6 billion annually due to illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call bypass.
The illegal callbypass has become a major headache for Nepali telecom operators and the nation as a whole. Four Nepali telecom operators permitted to operate this service are facing a loss of over Rs 500 million in revenue each month.
Telecom service providers say, the national has been receiving over 150 million international calls through their VoIP gateway each month and 50 to 60 percent of them are illegally by-passed, cheating millions of rupees from legal VoIP operators.
“Telecom operators are losing over Rs 500 million in international call-bypass every month,” said Surendra Prasad Thike, spokesperson for the Nepal Telecom. “The revenue collected from this service is also a contributor for us to help reduce the tariff of domestic calls.”
Telecom operators have been charging an average of Rs 8 for per call, which is said to be comparatively higher than that being charged by the illegal call by-passers. Given the fact, Nepali telecom operators licensed for the VoIP service can earn an average of Rs 1.2 billion monthly from incoming international calls but over half of the calls are being bagged by racketeers via banking channels, non-banking channels and as remittance. Reports show that the country earlier had been facing a loss of Rs 8 billion annually due to illegal international long distance call bypass services offered by VoIP-powered public phone booths and cyber cafes. To check these losses, the government had permitted Nepal Telecom, Ncell, United Telecom and STM Telecom to use VoIP technology.
The VoIP technology allows telecom operators to make international calls at cheaper rates besides checking huge revenue loss due to illegal calls. Illegal VoIP call by-passers make use of the VoIP gateway to divert international rings from the legal gateway. The call is then transferred to the telecom subscribers through a SIM card like normal call.
Thike said that NT alone has been losing around Rs 250 million every month. “The trend of illegal call-bypass keeps fluctuating based on the crackdown by police and we are also blacklisting 200-800 SIM cards involved in such illegal practice from our internal tracing everyday,” he added.
Also, in a bid to check the illegal use of its service, Ncell has also been re-verifying its customers. Only licensed telecom operators and internet service providers are allowed to operate the VoIP.
The Nepal Telecommunication Authority has also granted license to 15 internet service for the VoIP, but the service is for outgoing through internet only. Bijay Kumar Rai, deputy director at NTA, who looks after the VoIP issue said that the comparatively higher rate charged by telecom operators was a major cause of the illegal call-bypass. “We must find out the root cause behind the increased racketeering and higher price charge may one major reason,” he added.
Reports have shown that illegal by-passers have been charging below Rs 7.5 per call. They use broadband internet for routing phone calls, unlike conventional switching and fibre-optic alternatives.
After the series of crackdown on VoIP rackets, it has been found that they have been locally originating international calls through the use of SIM cards of local telecom companies. For this, they use sophisticated equipment and block the gateways of service providers and originate international calls through their own channels.
Normally, international calls with local numbers displayed on the screen are considered to be locally originated by illegal VoIP operators. They can also originate international calls displaying only 3 or 4 digits or a set of numbers like 000+4400+2222. Such calls are unclear or can disconnect of their own accord, time and again.
In thirteen raids at locations of illegal call by-passers, police have found hundreds of SIM cards of local telecom companies. This also shows that the there must be the involvement of employees in supplying such huge numbers of SIM cards to the racketeers. “We have been investigating such claims internally,” said Thike.
The illegal operators make possible landing or departure of incoming or outgoing international calls through pseudo-gateways, with technical backup from digital or analog call bypass equipment, according to police.
Posted on: 2010-09-09 08:47
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