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Broadband India Forum (BIF) on Tuesday flagged "serious concerns" over the government directive mandating a continuous, active SIM for use of messaging apps, and urged the Centre to pause implementation timelines and hold stakeholder consultations on the SIM-binding issue. BIF said that, while well-intentioned in its stated goal of curbing cyber-fraud originating from abroad, the directions raise significant questions of jurisdiction, consumer impact, and risk, creating obligations that extend far beyond the mandate of the Telecom Act or the purpose of the Telecom Cyber Security Rules. BIF represents major technology firms like Meta, Google, and others, and its latest stance marks another standoff with the telcos' body COAI, which believes the government's latest directive would bolster national security and safeguard citizens. COAI on Monday pledged telecom operators' commitment to supporting the seamless implementation of the directive. "BIF expresses serious concern over the ...
Rules for the allocation of spectrum for satellite communications services are likely to be in place within two months, a government official said on Monday. The spectrum allocation rules are the last lap that will enable Elon Musk-led Starlink, Bharti Group-backed Eutelsat Oneweb and Jio SES to apply for the radiowaves and start rolling out their services. "Spectrum allocation rules are likely to be fixed in two months. After that, it will be at the discretion of satcom services when they want to roll out their services," the official said. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended that the government should allocate spectrum without auction and through an administrative process-- a move that has seen huge resistance from telecom operators Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel initially. The regulator has suggested that spectrum for satcom services can be for a period of up to five years and considering the market conditions, the government may extend it for a furt
Industry body COAI on Tuesday said similar cybersecurity and regulatory rules should govern players, be it telecom operators or OTT communication applications. In a statement on the 'need to address spam calls and messages', the association argued that for a number issued by a telco to a subscriber, the operator takes the onus and responsibility and if required, it can provide all assistance to enforcement agencies. "However, in this same example, there could be instances whereby an OTT Communication Application used on the same number, may be utilised in another handset of the user, carried beyond the limits of a city/state, and may be used for illegal purposes. "Here again, while the telecom number can only be traced to the city where the mobile is residing, there are no ways to trace the activities of the OTT Communication App which was initially issued on the mobile number, but is now running off a separate handset, while the SIM is on a different handset," said Cellular ...
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday released its recommendations on "Regulatory framework for Ground-based Broadcasters (GBB)" to fully leverage technological advancements for the delivery of television channels to distributors. TRAI has recommended that the GBBs' scope should be to provide television channels to distribution platform operators (DPOs) using terrestrial communication medium, for onward re-transmission. "A ground-based broadcaster may use any terrestrial communication medium(s), for delivery of channels to the DPOs. There shall be no restriction on the use of terrestrial communication technologies/systems and the entity may use more than one such systems, as per its business decision," it said. The advancement of technology has made it feasible for broadcasters to provide their television channels to DPOs terrestrially also i.e. using terrestrial communication technologies like wireline or wireless, an official statement said. The terrestria
Telecom regulator Trai will issue recommendations on rules for satellite spectrum allocation very soon, an official said on Monday. The government will evaluate recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and thereafter decide on allocating spectrum to satellite communication companies, which will pave the way for satellite-based broadband services in the country. In response to a question on the recommendation on satcom spectrum rules during an event on National Consumer Day, Trai Chairman A K Lahoti said it will be issued "very soon". Trai concluded an open-house discussion on the terms and conditions for the assigning spectrum for certain satellite-based commercial communication services in the second week of November. Telecom service providers like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel want spectrum for full mobility across the country should be allocated through auctions only. However, Elon Musk's Starlink and global peers like Amazon's Project Kuiper and othe
The telecom department has ordered operators to play cyber crime awareness caller tune 8-10 times per day to telephone subscribers for three months. According to the order copy sent to the telecom operators, the caller tunes will be provided by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) -- a cyber crime wing under the Home Ministry. "In order to make the public aware about cybercrime through the caller tune campaign, it has been decided to play caller tune audios through pre-call announcement/ring back tone arrangement, which will be provided to TSPs by nodal officers of I4C. Caller tunes to a subscriber may be played about 8-10 times a day," the order dated December 18 said. The order asked telecom service providers (TSPs) to immediately take action on the order. "Different caller tunes related to cybercrime will be provided on a weekly basis for a period of three months," the order said. There has been a rise in the incidence of financial fraud through new scams like digita
Telecom industry body COAI on Thursday sought abolition or reduction of AGR-related fees for telcos at the earliest and pitched for lowering licence fee to 0.5-1 per cent of gross revenues. COAI argued that with the separation of spectrum from the license and its assignment at market price, the justification for imposing licence fee had ceased to exist long back. The license fee should "at best" cover the cost of administration of the license only, which is around 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent of the gross revenues, instead of the 8 per cent paid currently. COAI, whose members include Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, said payments charged on the basis of the AGR (Adjusted Gross Revenue) from telcos, ends up being a "double whammy" for players, who, as it is, incur huge investments towards procuring the spectrum. "It is evident that Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) buy the Spectrum for utilisation through transparent auction processes, paying a substantial amount for ...
Telecom regulator Trai's new quality of service norms with stricter provisions have come without much change in challenges that telecom operators face on ground in terms of roll-out, illegal transmitters etc, industry body COAI said on Sunday. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has issued new quality of service rules on Friday, making it mandatory for telecom operators to compensate subscribers in case of service outages for more than 24 hours at a district level. Trai has also increased the penal amount to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 50,000 for failing to meet each quality benchmark under the new rules. The regulator has introduced a graded penalty system of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 2 lakh, Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for different scales of rule violations and submitting false report under revised regulations -- "The Standards of Quality of Service of Access (Wirelines and Wireless) and Broadband (Wireline and Wireless) Service Regulations, 2024". Cellular Operators Association of India ..