Telecom Regulator

Trai's new message traceability norms go live from Dec 11 and aim to protect users by ensuring OTPs and essential messages are delivered seamlessly, while tackling spam and fraudulent communication

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 ...

The disagreement centres around whether satellite broadband spectrum should be auctioned or administratively allocated in India

Trai reassured banks that only the static parts of URLs in SMS need whitelisting to avoid disruption fears

The telecom regulator maintains that telcos are responsible for controlling unsolicited commercial communications under the Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations

Trai has introduced new regulations requiring telecom operators to block promotional calls originating from unregistered sources after receiving over 790,000 complaints about spam calls

To secure the funds, the projects have to meet certain criteria, such as improving telecom service affordability and security

Fighting unprecedented incidence of spam calls and texts, Trai begins the process to review the definition of commercial communication

Trai has ordered telecom companies to stop transmitting messages containing URLs, OTT links, APK files, or call-back numbers unless they have been whitelisted

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 ..

Telecom operators are assessing the feasibility of CNAP, where both number and caller name will be displayed during incoming calls

Telecom operator Vodafone Idea's (VIL) board has fixed the FPO offer price at Rs 11 per equity share, according to a regulatory filing. The anchor investor offer price of Rs 11 per equity share has also been greenlit by the board. "... Following resolutions were also passed... determined and approved the offer price of Rs 11 per equity share... approved the anchor investor offer price of Rs 11 per equity share," VIL informed. Debt-laden telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd has raised Rs 18,000 crore pulling off India's largest-ever follow-on public offering (FPO) as the issue got subscribed nearly seven times after institutional investors poured in money, stock exchange data showed on Monday evening. The fundraise will arm VIL with an ammo to improve its competitive positioning in the Indian telecom market, where it trails Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, by a wide margin. "Further to our letter dated 17 April 2024, intimating you about the meeting of the board of directors of the ..

The telecom industry is expected to take a 15-17 per cent tariff hike post general elections, according to an analyst report that termed the tariff increase in the sector as "imminent" with Airtel as the biggest beneficiary. The general election in the world's largest democracy is scheduled to be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1, and results will be declared on June 4. "We expect the industry to take a 15-17 per cent tariff hike post the elections," a report by Antique Stock Broking said, as it described the tariff hike as imminent and Bharti as the biggest beneficiary. The last hike of about 20 per cent was in December 2021, it said. Offering a break-up of ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) for India's second largest telco, the brokerage note said Bharti's industry-leading current ARPU of Rs 208 is set to go up to Rs 286 by end of FY27. This will be driven by a tariff hike contributing Rs 55, upgradation of 2G customers to 4G contributing Rs 10, and customer upgradat

QoS has remained a priority for the regulator, with Trai Chairperson Anil Kumar Lahoti naming call drops as a key area of his focus after taking charge in January

Around 50 million 2G handsets are sold annually, with over 500,000 2G base tower stations deployed throughout the country

The tie-up announced last year will reduce the number of mobile networks in Britain from four to three

The original draft of the Bill contained a framework to waive the license fees for financially troubled companies. Had these provisions made it to the final bill, things would have been easier for VI

Parliament on Thursday passed a bill that seeks to allow the government to temporarily take control of telecom services in the interest of national security, and provide a non-auction route for the allocation of satellite spectrum. The Telecommunications Bill, 2023, was approved by the Rajya Sabha through a voice vote. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday after a short debate. The Bill seeks to allow the government to temporarily take control of telecom services in the interest of national security, and provide a non-auction route for the allocation of satellite spectrum. It also allows the Centre to take possession of a telecom network in case of any public emergency or in the interest of public safety. Besides, it provides for stopping transmission and intercepting messages in case of public emergency, in the interest of the public, to prevent incitement for committing offence. According to the bill, the press messages of correspondents accredited to the Centre or state .

In a key move, it has also allowed telcos to surrender spectrum if they are unutilized. However, the government will not return the amount already paid by the company, people in the know said.

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio have both clarified that unlimited does not equate to infinity as data usage is restricted by speed and network