The Central government will amend the clause in International Long Distance licence, which prohibits resale of bandwidth by the carriers in the country.
The move will help in opening up of the IPLC sector for competition. Besides, it will also result in a southward journey of prices by at least 20-25 per cent.
In a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on November 22, the ministry of communications and IT has stated that it had accepted certain recommendations of the regulator.
The ministry has also sought details of the recommendations, so that relevant changes could be effected.
The ministry will also permit access to essential facilities, including landing facilities for submarine cables at cable landing stations, a long-standing demand of the industry.
At present, clause 2.2 (A) prevents resale of bandwidth under the ILD licence. Three submarine cable companies -- Tata group-owned VSNL, Reliance-owned Flag Telecom and Bharti Tele-ventures -- have about 700 gb of bandwidth in India.
However, they are not permitted to resell bandwidth in the country, which is done by Internet service providers such as Satyam, YouTelecom and Hathway.
The regulator had written to the ministry a couple of times, the last one being in October. Trai was seeking resale of International Public Leasedline Circuits, a dedicated mode of bandwidth offering.
The fall in bandwidth prices will not only help companies such as BPO, telecom and media to compete with global majors but also make India one of the most bandwidth-competitive countries in the world.
Current prices in the country are five times more than rates on certain international routes.
According to industry sources, this will help in opening up of the IPLC sector with the entry of new players.
The carriers and ISPs will resell bandwidth leading to a fall in the prices. However, they said ISPs would not be out of business, as they would co-exist with cable majors.
Trai had also sought equal access to landing facilities at CLS and permission for landing of new cables without any time limit.
