Page 10 - Trai

Trai to float a consultation paper on regulations for OTT players soon

One major issue that is expected to be covered in the consultation paper is the price parity between OTT video platforms and traditional platforms

Trai directs annual audit for telcos, asks to refund overcharged tariff

The audit has to be conducted by a panel of auditors notified by Trai. Non-compliance or failure to submit the report can result in monetary penalties that can go up to Rs 50 lakh

TRAI reduces audit compliance for LSAs, to cover max tariff offerings

Telecom regulator Trai has reduced audit compliance of licensed service areas to once in year from four times earlier but it will cover maximum tariff offerings, including related to international roaming, according to the new regulations on quality of service. The new regulations on Quality of Service (Code of Practice for Metering and Billing Accuracy) Regulations, 2023, dated September 11, 2023, will result in reduction of audit burden by almost 75 per cent and enhance Ease of Doing Business (EODB), Trai said in a release on Wednesday. "Each LSA shall be audited only once in a financial year unlike four times as per old regulations, thereby reducing the audit burden by almost 75 per cent," Trai said. However, while simplifying the audit process, it is also ensured to cover maximum tariff offerings under audit unlike in previous regulation which has the provision for audit of 15 most popular tariff offerings only leaving aside a good number of tariff offerings with less number of

Trai's latest recommendations likely to help FM radio find lost signal

India's Rs 2,100 crore radio business has been severely impacted by the pandemic, the rise of streaming, and a host of structural issues

Jio Satellite seeks flexible use of spectrum for satellite, mobile services

Jio Satellite Communications has written to telecom regulator Trai to allow flexible use of spectrum for satellite and mobile phone services networks. The company in a letter dated September 5 to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman PD Vaghela said technology is evolving that will enable convergence of satellite and terrestrial networks and therefore the regulator should consider flexible use of radio frequency for terrestrial and satellite services. In the letter, Jio Satellite cited the decision of the New Zealand government to allow flexible use of high frequencies in the 24-30 Ghz band. "This suggestion for flexible use of spectrum is based upon the latest changes in technology and standards which have allowed the creation of integrated and converged networks. We reiterate the 3GPP specifications in its Release-17 have already enabled the convergence of satellite and terrestrial network," Jio Satellite said. Jio has already submitted its comments in response to Trai's

TRAI favours news, current affairs programmes on private FM radio operators

Broadcast regulator TRAI on Tuesday recommended that private FM radio operators be allowed to broadcast news and current affairs programmes for 10 minutes every clock hour. In its recommendations on 'Issues related to FM Radio Broadcasting', the TRAI also said that the programme code of conduct as applicable to All India Radio for news content may also be applied to private FM radio channels. "Private FM Radio Operators should be allowed to broadcast news and current affairs programs, limited to 10 minutes in each clock hour," it said. The TRAI also said that functions or features pertaining to FM radio should remain enabled and activated on all mobile handsets having the necessary hardware. "Built-in FM radio receiver in mobile handset must not be subjected to any form of disablement or deactivation," it said. The regulator said the annual licence fee of a FM radio channel should be de-linked from Non-Refundable One Time Entry Fee (NOTEF). It also said that the license fee shoul

Satellite spectrum: Reliance Jio sends second legal opinion to Trai

Letter by retired SC judge says any method apart from auctions may be constitutionally unsound

Reliance Jio sends legal opinion backing satcom spectrum auction to Trai

A similar legal opinion had been sent by industry body Broadband India Forum (BIF) to Trai, arguing against satellite spectrum auction

Trai issues discussion paper to review norms of PMRTS, CMRTS licenses

Telecom regulator TRAI on Tuesday initiated consultation for review of terms and conditions of public and captive mobile radio trunking services (PMRTS and CMRTS). In the consultation paper, TRAI has sought stakeholder views on various issues, among them, the manner in which the conditions can be amended including scope of the PMRTS license, roll out obligation, technical conditions, network interconnection and security conditions. In all, the discussion paper dwells on more than 30 questions ranging from whether there is a need to review the provisions relating to service area for PMRTS authorisation under Unified License, to whether providers should be permitted internet connectivity with static IP addresses. Earlier, Telecom Department (DoT), through its reference in 2022, approached TRAI to provide recommendations on the terms and conditions for issue of fresh licenses for CMRTS and PMRTS Services especially with respect to technical conditions.. These include aspects like ...

Jio, Airtel drive up telecom subscriber base to 1,173 mn in June: Trai

Telecom subscriber base in the country grew marginally to 1,173.89 million at the end of June on account of new customer additions led by Reliance Jio, sector regulator Trai said on Thursday. The subscriber base growth was driven by mobile telephony where Reliance Jio added over 2.27 million new customers and Bharti Airtel added 1.4 million customers. "The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,172.57 million at the end of May-23 to 1,173.89 million at the end of June-23, thereby showing a monthly growth rate of 0.11 per cent," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in its monthly subscriber report. However, the overall growth was mitigated by the loss of subscribers by state-owned BSNL, MTNL and Vodafone Idea (VIL). BSNL lost 1.87 million mobile subscribers, VIL lost 1.28 million subscribers and MTNL (1,52,912 subscribers). The net addition in wireless subscribers of telecom operators in the month of June was 3,73,602. "Total wireless subscriber

Telecom services' AGR up sequentially to Rs 64,494 cr in March qtr: TRAI

Telecom service sector's adjusted gross revenue rose 2.5 per cent sequentially to Rs 64,494 crore in March 2023 quarter, according to data released by sector regulator TRAI on Monday. Seen year-on-year, the adjusted gross revenue increased 9.5 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous year. Another notable takeaway from the TRAI report was around the metrics of monthly Average Revenue Per User or ARPU, which showed a sequential decline in the case of postpaid, and a quarter-on-quarter rise for the prepaid category. Overall, the monthly ARPU for wireless service increased a tad 0.83 per cent. The gross revenue (GR), Applicable Gross Revenue (ApGR) and Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of the Telecom Service Sector for the quarter ended March 2023 was pegged at Rs 85,356 crore, Rs 78,631 crore and Rs 64,494 crore, respectively. While the GR decreased by 3.19 per cent, ApGR increased by 2.62 per cent and AGR increased by 2.53 per cent in March 2023 quarter, as compared to the

Trai sees rise in call drops complaint, begins service quality rules review

Telecom regulator Trai on Friday said that it has been receiving a number of call drop complaints from subscribers triggering the need to review existing quality of service rules to measure network performance at the district level and bring 4G-5G services also under its ambit. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said that even with the technological advancement in mobile telecommunications and advancement in performance management tools, the quality of experience (QoE) of consumers has not improved as expected though such quality of service (QoS) requirements are supported by technology standards. "Even with widespread coverage of 4G networks in the country and rollout of 5G services, there are increasing number of complaints of call drops, call muting, low data throughput etc. which raises question marks on the network design and provisioning of required network resources," Trai said. The regulator has proposed to tighten call drop parameters, call success rate etc ..

Telecom service providers wary of regulatory sandbox proposed by TRAI

The telecom regulator had suggested a national level controlled live testing environment for new products or services

Trai issues consultation paper on regulatory framework for broadcast sector

DTH players and local cable operators had pushed back on Trai's last directions for the sector

Trai seeks views on spectrum allocation for aircraft-to-ground data comm

Telecom regulator Trai on Friday issued a supplementary consultation paper to seek stakeholders' views on provision of licence and spectrum allocation methods for data communication between aircraft and ground stations. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has floated a consultation paper on "Data Communication Services between Aircraft and Ground Stations for services provided by organisations other than Airport Authority of India". However, after detailed consultation, it could not get inputs on certain aspects, such as those related to service licence for provision of data communication services between aircraft and ground stations, methodology for spectrum assignment and spectrum charging mechanism, Trai said in the paper. "Accordingly, the authority has decided to issue this supplementary consultation paper to seek inputs from stakeholders on such aspects. "In this regard, a supplementary consultation paper on 'Data Communication Services Between Aircraft and Groun

Risk-based framework

Groundwork needed before AI regulation

Jio gains 3 million new subscribers, Vodafone loses 2.8 mn in May: Trai

Reliance Jio continues as the market leader holding more than 50% of broadband market share and 38% of subscriber market share

Trai repeals the 2001 regulation on internet access service quality

Asserts the regulation, targeted at BSNL, MTNL, & VSNL, is no longer pertinent

TRAI disconnected 32,000 spamming telemarketers in 2022, double of 2021

TRAI classifies any sender of commercial communication who is not officially registered as telemarketing with Access Providers such as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and BSNL, as UTMs

TRAI releases draft telecom consumers education amendments for comments

Telecom regulator TRAI on Monday circulated the draft telecom consumers education and protection fund amendment regulation, for stakeholder comments. The amendments have been proposed in specific portions of the rules after a need was felt since certain activities like preparation and audit of accounts, require expenses to be incurred from Telecom Consumer Education and Protection Fund (TCEPF) and provisions are required, accordingly. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had notified TCEPF regulations on June 15, 2007. According to the regulations, a fund called 'Telecom Consumers Education and Protection Fund' was created. The income generated by the fund is used for undertaking activities including consumer outreach programmes, workshops, developing educational and awareness material for dissemination of information to consumers. "The authority has observed that for preparation, maintenance and audit of accounts and for the participation of representatives of consumer