The pricing of 2G and 3G spectrum continues to haunt telecom companies.
Currently, ISPs pay only Re 1 as annual licence fee while Internet telecom service providers, or telecom operators providing Internet services, pay 6 per cent of their annual gross revenue as licence fee.
Virtually endorsing the Union telecom ministry's decision not to auction 2G spectrum two years ago, telecom regulator Trai on Tuesday said bidding out mobile spectrum would not have yielded major economic gains for the exchequer.
Differences surfaced within the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday on the move by the telecom regulator TRAI to increase the monthly rental by 11-12 per cent for basic (landline) telephone and reduce the pulse duration for local calls.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India last week recommended that the government should auction 5 MHz of airwaves in the 1800 MHz band and companies will have to pay a minimum Rs 3,622.18 crore (Rs 36.22 billion) for every unit of spectrum.
The telecom regulator explains how he's hobbled by government policy and clarifies some parts of his latest recommendations.
Besides Sunil Mittal (Bharti Airtel) and Anil Ambani (Reliance Communications), Sarma has written to Sanjeev Aga of Idea, Anil Sardana of TTSL, Marten Pieters of Vodafone, Kuldip Singh of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited and Kuldeep Goyal of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.
The regulator has also agreed to the one-nation, one-licence proposal, which will make roaming free across the country. But it wants to decide the modalities of the issue.
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.
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 (Trai) will complete the consultation process for linking 3G spectrum price with 2G spectrum by July 15 and expects the government to wait for its proposals before taking a decision.
The government is likely to hold 5G spectrum auction in early June, telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday. The minister said that the Department of Telecom is working as per expected timeline and the process is on to resolve industry concerns around spectrum pricing. Asked about the schedule of the spectrum auction, Vaishaw said that it is expected to be in early June.
Trai member A K Sawhney had been acting as chairman since Nripendra Mishra retired on March 22 this year. Before joining Trai, Sarma was member of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal and is a well-known expert in the field, the regulator said.
In a development that would bring mobile telephone tariffs further down, telecom regulator Trai has suggested doing away with termination charges in a phased manner over the next three years.
Taking serious note of non-compliance of its order, broadcast regulator TRAI said on Friday said it will take legal action against cable distributors, Zee-Turner and Set-Discovery, for not restoring signals of one of their sub-distributors.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has given its recommendations on the much-awaited issue of spectrum sharing.
The Department of Telecom has initiated the process to fill the vacancies in the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India after retirement of two members.
Notwithstanding the controversy over the proposed unified licencing regime, Telecom Regulatory Authority is all set to make a presentation on Saturday before the Group of Ministers on telecom on its recommendations on the issue.
Mobile television allows the consumers to watch live as well as pre-recorded television content on a mobile handset using a specialised mobile television broadcasting technology. Currently, only video clips can be downloaded on mobile handsets.
TRAI said the two companies failed to fulfill roll-out obligations and their merger was in violation of rules.
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.
During the proceedings, the counsel appearing for the Trai said the regulator was willing to look into various issues raised by the broadcasters which have opposed the move to put a cap on advertising time.
Sensing a virtual unanimity among the cable operators and private TV channels on implementing CAS, Trai on Tuesday said it would submit recommendations on the matter, including price issues, to the government by July.
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.
A former chairman of TRAI on Friday told the JPC probing the 2G spectrum scam that the then NDA government did not seek the opinion of the telecom regulator on the issue of allocating "excess spectrum" to some private companies in 2002.
Trai has submitted 26 recommendations to the government and released 30 consultation papers so far this year, up from seven and 20, respectively, in 2007. Few of its recommendations are actually accepted by the govt.
Cable TV operators can register under the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995, to provide Internet Protocol Television services without requiring any licence, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has said. In its recommendations, TRAI has also said that the IPTV operators are required to register as cable operators to provide services in the country.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India would enforce the requirement of reporting of tariff at least five days in advance of implementation.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday endorsed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting proposal to reduce the license fee on Direct to Home (DTH) service providers. Trai said it had received a communication from the ministry conveying its decision to continue with the concept of gross revenue for the purpose of License fee on DTH service providers and to reduce the license fee. Trai's opinion also was sought on reduction of licence fee from 10% to 6%.
The report reveals that while the subscriber base for wireless services has increased from 209.07 million in September 2007 to 233.62 million for the quarter ended December 2007, the subscriber base for wireline has decreased from 39.58 million to 39.25 million in the recent quarter.
Taking cognizance of cellular operators' complaint, Telecom Regulatory of India has asked Reliance Infocomm to explain about roaming services being promised by them on their WLL phones.
Trai chairman attributed predatory price as one of the key reasons for deteriorating condition of telecom industry.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday directed cellular operators to seek the consent of the subscribers before providing services like voice mail.
The minister said that as committed earlier, the 3G spectrum would be distributed to all successful bidders on September 1 for launching services on commercial basis.
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