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Tag: Telecom Policy

  • Clear rules, bold frontiers: TRAI’s move to redefine international traffic

    Clear rules, bold frontiers: TRAI’s move to redefine international traffic

    MUMBAI: Clear rules don’t stifle innovation – they build trust and confidence in uncharted territories.

    In a landmark step poised to reshape India’s telecom landscape, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has introduced decisive recommendations to end the long-standing ambiguity surrounding the definition of international traffic. This long-awaited announcement, marked by relief and anticipation, is set to bring much-needed clarity and precision to the sector, fostering trust and confidence among stakeholders.

    Born out of a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) directive in August 2022, this pivotal development under Section 11(1)(a) of the TRAI Act, 1997, serves as a beacon of regulatory guidance. As the telecom industry ventures into uncharted territories of innovation and globalisation, these guidelines promise a clearer framework to distinguish between international and domestic SMS traffic—ushering in a new era of operational transparency and accountability.

    In line with its mandate, TRAI conducted extensive consultations through its paper released on 2 May 2023. The process engaged 20 stakeholders for comments and seven for counter-comments, followed by an open house discussion in August. These comprehensive efforts culminated in the establishment of robust definitions aimed at eliminating inconsistencies in the classification of SMS traffic.

    Key recommendations:

    1    Definition of International Traffic:
        “International traffic” is now defined as telecommunication traffic originating in one country and terminating in another, with one country being India.

    2    Definition of International SMS:
        An “International SMS message” constitutes international traffic delivered using SMS. Additionally, an explanation specifies that any incoming application-to-person (A2P) SMS requiring electronic devices or systems outside India will also fall under this category.

    3    Definition of Domestic Traffic:
        “Domestic traffic” encompasses all traffic originating and terminating within India.

    4    Definition of Domestic SMS:
        “Domestic SMS” is defined as domestic traffic transmitted via SMS.

    TRAI’s clear delineation between domestic and international SMS ensures fair treatment across telecom service providers and eliminates potential misuse of classifications. It also strengthens compliance with India’s telecommunication licensing framework.

    The recommendations are poised to enhance transparency and efficiency in the telecom ecosystem. By safeguarding revenue streams and simplifying compliance for telecom operators, this move aligns with TRAI’s vision to fortify India’s telecom sector in the digital age.

  • Cabinet approves new telecom policy

    Cabinet approves new telecom policy

    MUMBAI: New telecom policy branded as the National Digital Communications Policy (http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/telecom/new-telecom-policy-may-go-to-cabinet-in-2-weeks-dots-sundararajan-180905) (NDCP) 2018 finally got an approval from the cabinet. The new policy aims to attract USD 100 billion in investment and create 40 lakh jobs in the sector by 2022, PTI reported.

    Providing broadband access to all, creating 40 lakh new jobs, and increasing India’s ranking in the global ICT Index to 50th spot- these are some of the key objectives of NDCP 2018.
    “We also expect GDP contribution of the telecom sector, which has been around six per cent, to grow to 8 per cent… and expect USD 100 billion investment to come in,” communication minister Manoj Sinha said.
    As communication systems have been going through rapid change globally in areas like 5G, Internet of Things and Machine to Machine Communication, Sinha said a “consumer-centric and application-driven policy” was needed to be brought in.
    The new policy(http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/telecom/comment-indias-ntp-2018-gets-digital-makeover-but-needs-complimentary-policies-180508) is focused on increasing high-speed broadband penetration, with use of modern technologies like 5G and optical fibres across the country at affordable rates.

  • Telecom policy likely to be rolled out in June

    Telecom policy likely to be rolled out in June

    MUMBAI: The new telecom policy is likely to be implemented by next month, telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan said yesterday.

    The draft policy, branded as National Digital Communications Policy 2018, was unveiled by the government yesterday. It aims to attract $100 billion or about Rs 6.5 lakh crore investments in the digital communications sector by 2022 with the help of reforms.

    “We want to place it (the telecom policy) before the cabinet in four weeks. It will be open for public comments for two weeks, then we will finalise everything in a week and send to the cabinet after that. It will be in place in June,” Sundararajan told reporters in Delhi.

    The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has already issued a draft of the new telecom policy.

    Promising rationalisation of levies such as spectrum charges to rejuvenate debt-ridden telecom sector, the proposed new telecom policy seeks to provide broadband access to all with 50 mbps speed, 5G services and create 40 lakh new jobs by 2022.

    “The crux of the policy is to have broadband for all,” Sundararajan said. She said that spectrum usage charges will be rationalised within the ongoing financial year. “The investment in the sector will come once industry stabilises. There are efforts to stabilise industry soon.”

    Also Read :

    DoT addresses broadband issues in policy out for public consultation

    TRAI releases paper on National Telecom Policy 2018

     

  • High-speed data services & on-demand bandwidth expectation prompt new telecom policy

    NEW DELHI: A new telecom policy, which will be application driven as compared to connectivity-driven National Telecom Policy 2012, will be ready soon. This was indicated by communications minister Manoj Sinha while speaking at a seminar here on ICT: Engendering New Governance Structure.

    The new policy has to be focussed on the end-users and should look at the newer opportunities for expanding the availability of telecom services. He said the advent of high speed data services and enhanced expectations of the users to get real time on-demand bandwidth to run near real time live applications (such as OTT & VoD) had prompted the ministry to prepare new policies.

    The Minister said there had been a six-fold increase in Data traffic in India rom 561 million GB in the first quarter to 2988 million GB in the third quarter of 2016-17, which was a whopping 400 per cent jump.

    He said that for the first time, the Ministry had decided to involve a large pool of experts from outside the department to get more inputs from the citizens and stakeholders for the new policy.

    He said the communications Sector had assumed the position of an essential infrastructure for socio-economic development in an increasingly knowledge-intensive world. He said as of April 2017, the country had close to 1.2 billion telephone connections, including 1.17 billion wireless telephone connections and similarly witnessed the rapid growth of the broadband connections now stands at 276.52 million.

    Sinha said that while service providers are rapidly deploying the 4 G technology, his focus is on the need to expand the connectivity to all parts including the north-eastern and Left Wing Extremism affected areas; and to keep an eye on future generation that is 5 G technology and ensure that India plays a key role in standards development and get a healthy share of the innovations and patents in the 5G technology pool.

    He said the FDI equity inflow in telecom sector from April 2016 to March 2017 was US$ 5564 million, which is more than four times the average inflow of about 1.3 billion dollars every year since 2013-14.

    The Minister said the information superhighways are a must for growth in the 21st century. He said the Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules 2016 had been notified to ease the cable laying approval process and helps in Ease of Doing Business for Telecom Service Providers.

    The Department of Telecom has announced the ‘Central Equipment Identity Register’ to pave the way for setting up of International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) based device registration and authentication that will settle the cases of Mobile Phone Theft to a great extent.

    The department is also actively considering the TRAI recommendations on addressing Telecom Consumer Grievances and urged the officers to propose a state-of-the-art technology driven solution that records, monitors and provides end-to-end monitoring of every grievance.

    Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan said the world was looking at India as the next growth engine to grow from 7.6 percent to above 10 percent and this required huge effort by both the government and the private sector. She urged the Department of Telecom to become an Engine of Transformation and to act as infrastructure builder rather than a regulator.

  • Sindh High Court restrains issuing LDI licenses

    Sindh High Court restrains issuing LDI licenses

    NEW DELHI: Noting that the 2003 Telecom policy was outdated, the Sindh High Court has restrained federal government from issuing Long Distance and International (LDI) licenses.

     

    A bench led by Justice Nadeem Akhtar has also directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to draw up a new telecom policy. It issued the stay order over the PTA notification which was challenged by private telephone operators.

     

    According to the petition submitted by Telecard Limited, Redtone Telecommunications and Multinet Pakistan, LDI licenses were issued back in 2003 according to the deregulation policy and they were subjected to renewal after five years. The petitioners also mentioned that the fee for prescription was $500,000 back in 2003 but after expiry in 2008 there has been no revision in the policy.

     

    While the Pakistan Information and Technology Ministry and the PTA were ready to-re-issue licences, the petitioners argued that these were sought to be issued on the same fee of $500,000 despite the desperate need for revision in policy and licence fee.