 "Ram Sewak Sharma")
The past 12 months have been fairly eventful for the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), since Ram Sewak Sharma took over as chairman on August 10, 2015. Sharma took over as sector regulator amid the din on call drops, especially before and during elections in Bihar. Clearly, his task was cut out, as the quality of service is the remit of the regulator.
Sharma has indeed tried to take many consumer-friendly initiatives — mobile apps to check the speed of the internet on mobile phones and file complaints against pesky calls were two of them. The regulator has also given recommendations to fast-track the BharatNet project, which aims to connect all the gram panchayats with optic fibre. The consultation paper seeking comments to set up an ombudsman is also to protect the consumers. Currently, users have to go to consumer courts if their complaints are not addressed.
Sharma and his team have also been busy with a flurry of consultation papers. In a short span of one year, Trai has come out with as many as 23 papers on various issues related to telecom and broadcasting sectors, which is unprecedented. Under the chairmanship of Rahul Khullar, Sharma’s predecessor, Trai came out with 32 papers in three years. The number of such papers under earlier Trai chiefs was even less.
The issues raised in the consultation papers under Sharma’s term vary from addressing consumer complaints by setting up an ombudsman to proliferating broadband at public places, internet telephony, cloud computing, net neutrality and how free data can be provided to customers under the ambit of net neutrality, among others.
Fixing the call-drop problem was also meant to be another consumer-friendly initiative, but it ended up putting him in direct conflict with the industry, which believes the regulator isn’t lending a helping hand to them. Relations between Trai and the mobile operators have broken down in the past 12 months. But, it all started with the regulation that asked telcos to pay Rs 1 for every call drop that occurs due to faults in their network. This was limited to a maximum of Rs 3 per day per consumer.
The regulation did not find favour with the apex court, which came out with a hard-hitting verdict on May 11, rejecting the call drop regulation. Sharma, then, wrote to the government demanding wider powers for Trai. Industry has also challenged several moves of the regulator and called its drive tests (for call drops) to be flawed.
A telecom operator on condition of anonymity said: “Unfortunately, many of the policy decisions taken by Trai have been counter-intuitive. For instance, they are now championing the cause of free data, which they banned earlier — Airtel Zero and Facebook’s Free Basics, for example. The call-drops penalty was totally illogical and operators explained the reasons for this, but it still took the intervention of the courts to resolve the issue.” Soon after the call drop regulation, Trai came out with a technical paper on how a certain percentage of call drops happen due to technical reasons that have little to do with the operator.
Another highlight of Sharma’s tenure has been the regulation banning differential pricing of data services. The rules were hailed by net neutrality champions as it would prevent mobile operators from offering selective or a slice of the internet at lower costs. Like in the case of call drops, the regulator created a backdoor entry for free data through the Closed Electronic Communication Networks in its rules banning differential data pricing.
The power tussle between Facebook and Trai also took an ugly turn with the exchange of strongly worded letters between the two. Facebook had spent crores of rupees in support of its ‘Free Basics’ programme, which allowed customers to access certain websites free of cost. However, with Trai banning any differential treatment for data, programmes like ‘Free Basics’ and Airtel’s Zero rating plans are all history now.
But, this is not the end of differential pricing of data. In May this year, Trai came out with another consultation paper seeking comments on models to offer free data. The fate of this consultation is not known. The last date to send comments was June 30 and counter-comments was July 14. Trai is yet to announce its future course of action such as open-house discussion and giving recommendations. According to people in the know, Trai might not come out with recommendations on the paper and might include the stakeholders’ comments in the wider consultation paper on net neutrality.
Sharma is known to be a no-nonsense man who asserts what he feels right. This can be seen on occasions when he has chosen to defy the government line. For example, on the issue of spectrum usage charges (SUC), Trai stood firm on its proposal for a flat rate though it gave its proposals regarding weighted average formula as suggested by the Department of Telecommunications. Trai said in the long term, a flat rate is the best way to calculate SUC.
Some of the key issues that Sharma has not acted upon include the paper issued under Khullar on regulating over-the-top players like WhatsApp and Skype. Trai under the chairmanship of Khullar in March 2015 came out with the paper to prepare a regulatory framework for Internet-based calling and messaging applications such as Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and Google Talk. Although all the stakeholders had submitted their comments and there was a big debate on the issue, Trai did not come out with its recommendations. After Khullar’s retirement, when Sharma assumed office, he was also asked about the status of the paper, but there was no specific answer.
SHARMASPEAK
ON FACEBOOK’S FREE BASICS
“It is like we have asked question X and they have given answer to question Y”
“Consultation by Trai is not an opinion poll. We are not asking if the answer is yes or no…we are asking why you think it is yes or no because that helps us in formulating the policy or guidelines”
ON CALL DROPS
“Call drop is a problem faced by consumers so they should be directly compensated”
ON DATA SPEED ON MOBILE
“Now we are saying that if you (mobile operators) cannot provide minimum speed of data then at least average speed can be assured”
ON SPECTRUM AUCTION
“The same people who were saying they are unable to provide quality service because spectrum is not available, the same people are saying don’t auction the spectrum. This is some kind of paradoxical situation”
Sharma has indeed tried to take many consumer-friendly initiatives — mobile apps to check the speed of the internet on mobile phones and file complaints against pesky calls were two of them. The regulator has also given recommendations to fast-track the BharatNet project, which aims to connect all the gram panchayats with optic fibre. The consultation paper seeking comments to set up an ombudsman is also to protect the consumers. Currently, users have to go to consumer courts if their complaints are not addressed.
Sharma and his team have also been busy with a flurry of consultation papers. In a short span of one year, Trai has come out with as many as 23 papers on various issues related to telecom and broadcasting sectors, which is unprecedented. Under the chairmanship of Rahul Khullar, Sharma’s predecessor, Trai came out with 32 papers in three years. The number of such papers under earlier Trai chiefs was even less.
The issues raised in the consultation papers under Sharma’s term vary from addressing consumer complaints by setting up an ombudsman to proliferating broadband at public places, internet telephony, cloud computing, net neutrality and how free data can be provided to customers under the ambit of net neutrality, among others.
Fixing the call-drop problem was also meant to be another consumer-friendly initiative, but it ended up putting him in direct conflict with the industry, which believes the regulator isn’t lending a helping hand to them. Relations between Trai and the mobile operators have broken down in the past 12 months. But, it all started with the regulation that asked telcos to pay Rs 1 for every call drop that occurs due to faults in their network. This was limited to a maximum of Rs 3 per day per consumer.
The regulation did not find favour with the apex court, which came out with a hard-hitting verdict on May 11, rejecting the call drop regulation. Sharma, then, wrote to the government demanding wider powers for Trai. Industry has also challenged several moves of the regulator and called its drive tests (for call drops) to be flawed.
A telecom operator on condition of anonymity said: “Unfortunately, many of the policy decisions taken by Trai have been counter-intuitive. For instance, they are now championing the cause of free data, which they banned earlier — Airtel Zero and Facebook’s Free Basics, for example. The call-drops penalty was totally illogical and operators explained the reasons for this, but it still took the intervention of the courts to resolve the issue.” Soon after the call drop regulation, Trai came out with a technical paper on how a certain percentage of call drops happen due to technical reasons that have little to do with the operator.
Another highlight of Sharma’s tenure has been the regulation banning differential pricing of data services. The rules were hailed by net neutrality champions as it would prevent mobile operators from offering selective or a slice of the internet at lower costs. Like in the case of call drops, the regulator created a backdoor entry for free data through the Closed Electronic Communication Networks in its rules banning differential data pricing.
The power tussle between Facebook and Trai also took an ugly turn with the exchange of strongly worded letters between the two. Facebook had spent crores of rupees in support of its ‘Free Basics’ programme, which allowed customers to access certain websites free of cost. However, with Trai banning any differential treatment for data, programmes like ‘Free Basics’ and Airtel’s Zero rating plans are all history now.
But, this is not the end of differential pricing of data. In May this year, Trai came out with another consultation paper seeking comments on models to offer free data. The fate of this consultation is not known. The last date to send comments was June 30 and counter-comments was July 14. Trai is yet to announce its future course of action such as open-house discussion and giving recommendations. According to people in the know, Trai might not come out with recommendations on the paper and might include the stakeholders’ comments in the wider consultation paper on net neutrality.
Sharma is known to be a no-nonsense man who asserts what he feels right. This can be seen on occasions when he has chosen to defy the government line. For example, on the issue of spectrum usage charges (SUC), Trai stood firm on its proposal for a flat rate though it gave its proposals regarding weighted average formula as suggested by the Department of Telecommunications. Trai said in the long term, a flat rate is the best way to calculate SUC.
Some of the key issues that Sharma has not acted upon include the paper issued under Khullar on regulating over-the-top players like WhatsApp and Skype. Trai under the chairmanship of Khullar in March 2015 came out with the paper to prepare a regulatory framework for Internet-based calling and messaging applications such as Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and Google Talk. Although all the stakeholders had submitted their comments and there was a big debate on the issue, Trai did not come out with its recommendations. After Khullar’s retirement, when Sharma assumed office, he was also asked about the status of the paper, but there was no specific answer.
SHARMASPEAK
ON FACEBOOK’S FREE BASICS
“It is like we have asked question X and they have given answer to question Y”
“Consultation by Trai is not an opinion poll. We are not asking if the answer is yes or no…we are asking why you think it is yes or no because that helps us in formulating the policy or guidelines”
ON CALL DROPS
“Call drop is a problem faced by consumers so they should be directly compensated”
ON DATA SPEED ON MOBILE
“Now we are saying that if you (mobile operators) cannot provide minimum speed of data then at least average speed can be assured”
ON SPECTRUM AUCTION
“The same people who were saying they are unable to provide quality service because spectrum is not available, the same people are saying don’t auction the spectrum. This is some kind of paradoxical situation”
|
EXPANDING THE SUBSCRIBER BASE Sharma took over as Trai’s chairman on August 10 last year |
|
