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Govt notifies new telephony regulations

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Joji Thomas Philip New Delhi
Last Updated : Jun 14 2013 | 4:21 PM IST
The government has notified the new National Long Distance (NLD) and International Long Distance (ILD) norms and also decided to do away with the existing Internet Protocol-II (IP-II) and Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network (IPVPN) licences.
 
"The new norms set in motion the process of further reduction of telecom tariffs in the country, in addition to intensifying competition in the sector and allowing smaller players to enter the market," said a department of telecommunications official.
 
The guidelines will come into effect on January 1, 2006.
 
The DoT has also made amendments to the existing NLD and ILD licences and the Universal Access Service Licence (UASL) to incorporate the new norms. The VAST licences have also been amended to reduce the revenue share to 6 per cent from the existing 15 per cent.
 
According to the new guidelines for NLD licences, the entry fee has been slashed to Rs 2.5 crore from the existing Rs 100 crore, while the annual licence fee has been cut to 6 per cent of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) from 15 per cent at present. Besides, the mandatory rollout obligations have been removed.
 
The networth requirement and paid-up capital have been fixed at Rs 2.50 crore, against Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 250 crore respectively at present. NLD service providers have also been permitted to offer last mile connectivity.
 
For the ILD sector, the entry fee has been reduced to Rs 2.5 crore from Rs 25 crore at present. The reduction in revenue share, networth requirement and paid-up capital is similar to that for the NLD licence.
 
Here too, the rollout obligations have been removed and ILD service providers have also been permitted to access subscribers directly with regard to leased circuits closed user groups.
 
Additionally, for both ILD and NLD, prior experience in the telecom sector is no longer a prerequisite for being granted telecom service licences.
 
As per the revised UASL licence, access providers are permitted to provide internet telephony, internet services and broadband services (including triple play "" voice, video and data) and can also use the network of NLD and ILD operators to offer the same.
 
Under the new guidelines, existing holders of IP-II and IPVPN licences will have to migrate to NLD or ILD service licence. This implies that Internet Service Providers with internet telephony will be charged licence fee at 6 per cent of AGR. They, however, cannot provide content services on a managed network not derived from Internet.
 
IP-II licencees not interested in migrating to NLD or ILD shall not be permitted to provide national and international leased line or bandwidth to individual subscribers and also not carry voice over individual network, the guidelines added.

 
 

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First Published: Dec 19 2005 | 12:00 AM IST

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