The wait for mobile subscribers to get relief from telemarketing calls has got longer. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has extended the deadline for the third time for implementation of guidelines to curb telemarketing calls, to April 1.
Telecom regulator Trai on Wednesday released draft recommendations on rural telephony for overcoming various constraints coming in the way of increasing telecom penetration in rural India.
Launched in March, it triggers re-verification of suspected fraudulent numbers. Failing re-verification, the number will be disconnected.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) decision to stop issuing new licences for district-level operators or category 'C' players has effectively shut the door on smaller Internet service providers (ISPs) interested in setting up shop. Those who have moved on to category 'B' or state-level operations, too, are feeling the heat as they have to compete with the likes of Reliance, Bharti Airtel, BSNL, VSNL and Sify.
In its recommendations to the government, Trai said the provision of calling cards would allow consumer to exercise choice of long distance operator for the national and international calls. The authority has, therefore, recommended amendment of NLD/ILD operators licence conditions to allow them to access customers directly for national and international long distance calls, respectively.
TRAI to soon put in place a new set of 'service quality benchmarks' to monitor call drop
Finally, Trai has also said that spectrum can be shared between only two operators, not three.
The three undersea cable station owners were asked by Trai to submit the Cable Landing Station - Reference Interconnect Offer,' containing the terms and conditions, charges and time limit for providing access. Now, Trai has approved the RIO of four cable landing stations of VSNL in the country and one each of Bharti and Anil Ambani's Reliance.
In May, Trai had gave its recommendations on a 'Spectrum Management and Licencing Framework', in which it had said that consequent to the merger of licences in a service area, the total spectrum held by the resultant entity post-merger shall not exceed 12.4 MHz for GSM technology, or 10 MHz in case of CDMA technology.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday failed to get any interim relief from the Supreme Court as it refused to stay telecom appellate tribunal TDSAT's order restricting regulator's jurisidiction to effect changes in the agreement signed bet
Retaining the same number while changing the service provider may become a reality for Indian subscribers, as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India would issue a consultation paper on 'number portability' in a month's time.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday recommended lowering spectrum charges paid by service providers to the government to 4% from 6% -- a move which may further bring down telecom tariffs.
DoT officials, under fear of allegation of their conniving with telecom operators for lowering penalty, directly impose the maximum penalty that can be levied on service providers.
The telecom regulator had on Monday said that for the first unsolicited communication, a service provider would have to pay a penalty of up to Rs 5,000, which could go up to Rs 20,000 for each subsequent call.
Under the previous quality of service rules, penalty on call drop was Rs 100,000 per violation and could go up to Rs 200,000 in case of third subsequent violation.
TRAI had asked the operators who had offered such schemes on what would happen if there was a change in traffic patterns and Interconnect Usage Charge regime and how the consumers would be protected against a hike in tariff.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday postponed implementation of revised interconnect usage charges (IUC) regime by another fortnight to January 1, following demands from the industry for more time for implementing the regime.
In a move, which may allow direct-to-home service providers to beam exclusive channels, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has sought a review of the existing policy, which bars such channels on DTH platforms.
Its pre-consultation paper has been silent on the issue of closed electronic communication network, a loophole telcos can exploit to offer discriminatory pricing.
The government is not seeking to change the 2012 Supreme Court judgment that backed auction as the preferred mode of allocating telecom spectrum except for narrowly defined sectors such as satellite communication and defence where the auction is not feasible, a top source said on Wednesday.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday decided to extend the off-peak time for Internet services by four hours from 8 pm to 8 am, during which service providers would offer concessional rates for dial-up access to the Net.\n\n
The Supreme Court recently quashed a rule that mandated telecom operators to compensate consumers.
Every mobile user is a content creator and broadcaster and has the moral responsibility to ensure the veracity of the information shared by them, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan said in New Delhi on Thursday.
Newer telecom operators and dual technology entities are opposing the department of telecommunications (DoT)'s decision to ask the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to give its view on whether the price of spectrum being offered in the coming 2G auction should be valid for 10 years instead of 20 years.
TRAI today made it mandatory for telecom operators to compensate consumers by one rupee for call drops with effect from January 1, 2016.
With seven million new subscribers, India accounted for the highest net addition of mobile subscriptions globally in the second quarter of 2023, according to the August edition of Ericsson Mobility. Among national markets, India was followed by China with five million and the US with three million subscribers. The subscriber penetration in India, however, stood at 79 per cent, compared to 120 per cent in China, the report said.
Jio makes data on call drops public, says 121 mn calls failed in a day
The telecom regulator has been in the hot seat for many decisions that have fundamentally changed the country's telecom business.
Dish TV and Tata Sky, the two major DTH companies, have sought compensation from the government for the upgrade of the existing DTH set-top boxes due to the mandatory upgrade proposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
Trai's move is seen as a relief for the debt ridden sector and the industry body COAI expects that continuing with six paise mobile call termination charge will not have any impact on consumers as operators have already absorbed this charge in their recently increased mobile call and data rates.
'We operate in 16 countries already, and therefore adding the UK to it, and beginning a chapter in the European continent is the next step.'
Telecom regulator Trai on Monday announced reduction in the national mobile phone roaming charges, but said there will be no free national roaming as of now.
Telcos say tests were done in the known problematic areas of Delhi-NCR, where operators face issues in obtaining cell sites.
VIL has countered Trai's contention that the RedX plan, which commits higher speeds, should have been informed separately so different aspects could have been examined before such service was launched.
While the market for satellite broadband currently is small, the potential is large as an estimated 30 per cent of the country does not have reliable terrestrial broadband services.
Jio has accused incumbent telecom operators for not providing the required number of equipment to connect its mobile network with theirs
The regulator added that a split auction of 2100 MHz, used for 3G services, will 'artificially increase the market price of 2100 Mz in February 2015 (auction) because of the severe supply constraint'.
