Union Communications and IT Minister Arun Shourie on Thursday said the interconnection usage charges (IUC) announced by the telecom regulator would remove the "imbalances" created earlier and would help rural telephony.

"They are very detailed recommendations and take care of the imbalance which had been created earlier and will help the rural telephony in the country," he said on the sidelines of a dividend paying ceremony by TCIL, in New Delhi.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday announced the revised interconnection user charge, to be paid by operators for using another network, aimed at bringing down the tariff for consumers in view of the reduced overall financial burden on service providers.

Although Trai has reduced access deficit charge (ADC), a financial burden to be borne by all operators for state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd to offer rural and unviable services, some new segments like cellular and WLL mobile have been burdened with the ADC triggering apprehensions that operators might pass on the impact to subscribers, resulting in a possible hike in long distance tariffs.

"We, however, feel that in none of the categories, tariffs should go up. Rather they should come down as the net impact of IUC plus ADC has either been reduced or remained same in the revised regime leading to a downward pressure on tariffs," Trai chairman Pradip Baijal had said.