 "Now, COAI knocks prime minister’s door")
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Thursday took its complaints against the telecom regulator to Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In a letter to the PMO, the lobby group representing mobile operators repeated almost everything it had conveyed to J S Deepak, secretary, department of telecommunications, on Monday. The letter says Jio has divergent views on the matter.
The industry expressed its concern over some of the recent consultation papers introduced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). The letter said: “These papers, seen along with other recent Trai decisions, point to a pattern of discrimination against the existing mobile operators. It seems that some of the papers have been crafted and timed to serve the interests of some new entrants in the sector, with complete disregard for the massive investments made by the existing operators. While COAI welcomes new entrants, we would like to submit that it is unfair for the regulator to adopt policy measures to either promote or discriminate between existing players and new entrants.”
The industry body said it believes some of the recent consultation papers and decisions of Trai were against the incumbents. The letter said the industry body could not understand the urgency shown by Trai to review the interconnect charges, since they were revised in March 2015 and the regulator had decided to revisit the same in 2017-18. The industry body also termed the regulator’s move to levy a financial penalty for call drops a “draconian” move aimed at discrediting the industry.
COAI’s letter also highlighted the move to regulate charges for termination of internet telephony calls without finalising the routing and numbering framework. The industry body stated that a clear, stable and predictable policy environment was the cornerstone of any regulatory regime to foster industry growth and customer services.
The inconsistent policy framework, it warned, would hinder investments.
In a letter to the PMO, the lobby group representing mobile operators repeated almost everything it had conveyed to J S Deepak, secretary, department of telecommunications, on Monday. The letter says Jio has divergent views on the matter.
The industry expressed its concern over some of the recent consultation papers introduced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). The letter said: “These papers, seen along with other recent Trai decisions, point to a pattern of discrimination against the existing mobile operators. It seems that some of the papers have been crafted and timed to serve the interests of some new entrants in the sector, with complete disregard for the massive investments made by the existing operators. While COAI welcomes new entrants, we would like to submit that it is unfair for the regulator to adopt policy measures to either promote or discriminate between existing players and new entrants.”
The industry body said it believes some of the recent consultation papers and decisions of Trai were against the incumbents. The letter said the industry body could not understand the urgency shown by Trai to review the interconnect charges, since they were revised in March 2015 and the regulator had decided to revisit the same in 2017-18. The industry body also termed the regulator’s move to levy a financial penalty for call drops a “draconian” move aimed at discrediting the industry.
COAI’s letter also highlighted the move to regulate charges for termination of internet telephony calls without finalising the routing and numbering framework. The industry body stated that a clear, stable and predictable policy environment was the cornerstone of any regulatory regime to foster industry growth and customer services.
The inconsistent policy framework, it warned, would hinder investments.
