The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has relaxed all restrictions on internet telephony in India, reports the Economic Times.

This would allow internet service providers to end internet telephony calls on fixed phones as well as mobiles. Subscriber trunk dialling (STD) calls can be made at 10 to 40 paise and local calls can be made free from computers.

Until now, users were legally able to make calls from a computer only to another computer and not to a phone within India. However, the policy permitted international calls to a phone from computers. The current relaxation of telecom norms would mean that users can make calls from PCs to all phones including fixed line and mobile phones in India. Users can also call personal computers from their handsets.

The relaxation of norms would benefit rural users, as they can make cheap calls from PCOs using internet telephony. This would also boost the growth of broadband. Wireless broadband connection Wimax, which will be launched in India soon, will also benefit from this move. X