Trai favours open bidding in directory enquiry licence

The company will be required to pay minimum reserve price of Rs 1 crore as one-time entry fee, which may be fixed for NIDQS licence, which will be finally determined in the open bidding process. The regulator further recommended that the licence fee for NIDQS be 6 per cent of gross revenue of the NIDQS provider.

The licence duration could initially be for 10 years, which could be renewed by another 10 years, said Trai.

On obtaining the licence, the licensee shall have to provide the directory enquiry service, covering both fixed line (wireline and fixed wireless service) and mobile telephone services. The customers can, therefore, access the service through their access service providers.

According to Trai, the charges and access codes for local directory and national directory enquiry services should be different. However, state-owned telecom operators, BSNL and MTNL, and other access service providers may provide local directory enquiry service for their own customers on code 197.