Ripping You Off

It came as a surprise when I found out that the largest counterfeits in the world are shoes & sneakers which are estimated to cost the industry $12 billion annually in US alone. But that ain't the point we are going to swell on right now.TRAI's unparalleled commitment to make cell phones available for the masses in India has resulted in calls being charged at Rs 3 per minute once to 30p-50p per minute today. But there is a hidden side to the apparently customer centric telecom industry in the country. As much as 12%-16% of your monthly cell phone expenses are in the form of surcharges and these don't include the taxes that you pay on the charges. Between 1%-4% of your total call time every month is in the form of charges for drop calls. This might appear like a very small figure but Cell phone charges are the 3rd largest form of fee burden on earth, largely because of the penetration of cell phones today.
Some "phone" for thought...right!!!