Trai Tariff

Trai issues consultation paper on satellite communications, seeks views

Suggests pricing tied to AGR, separate charges for C, Ku, and Ka bands

Telecom players' Arpu growth falls to 7.5% in FY24, shows govt data

Slow pace of growth precipitated the latest industry-wide tariff hikes

Telecom sector AGR rose 8.24% to Rs.2.7 trillion in FY24, shows Trai data

Spectrum usage charges collected by the government saw 32% fall

Trai calls for reliable audience measurement system for radio, OTT, TV

Trai has proposed enlarging the audience measurement system's sample size to better reflect India's diversity, and called for fostering competition among multiple rating agencies

New 160 number series for service calls to reduce spam, says Trai

DCA facility discussed in meeting with RBI, sectoral regulators and 25 plus banks on Friday

Customers won't be charged for holding multiple SIMs, says Trai

The plan aims to assess all factors affecting the allocation and utilisation of TI resources and proposes potential modifications to enhance the allocation policies and utilisation procedures

New Trai chief A K Lahoti has work cut out as issues pile up with regulator

A former Railways board CEO, he is an unconventional choice to lead the regulator

Trai won't cancel Apple phone registration over DND application row

Talks with the iPhone maker are going on and the issue may be resolved in a few months, say senior officials

Trai asks Principal Entities to onboard digital consent acquisition system

In line with its drive to curb spam and pesky messages, TRAI on Tuesday asked banks and other entities sending out commercial messages to telecom subscribers via SMS or voice calls to take "urgent" steps to be onboard Digital Consent Acquisition (DCA) system as per stipulated timelines. The DCA has the facility to seek, maintain, and revoke the consent of customers for commercial and promotional messages and calls. The crackdown on spam and pesky messages had seen TRAI issuing direction in June this year to all the access providers to develop and deploy the Digital Consent Acquisition (DCA) facility for creating a unified platform and process to seek, and register customers' consent digitally across all telecom operators and 'Principal Entities'. "All the Principal Entities' are hereby requested to take urgent necessary steps to be onboard the DCA system as per the timelines prescribed in Direction dated 02.06.2023. For any clarification, information, details in the matter, PEs may

Reliance Jio takes contrarian call on 5G services, not to raise tariff

Not to raise tariff; focus not only on mobility but also on connecting India's over 330 million households with broadband based on 5G last-mile connectivity

Telcos revenue from voice calls down 80%, SMS 94%, data revenue up 10 times

Telecom operators' revenue share from voice calls has declined by about 80 per cent and by 94 per cent from SMS in the last 10 years as the usage of internet-based calling and messaging apps grew, according to a Trai paper. However, revenue share per user from data usage grew over 10 times between June 2013 quarter to December 2022 quarter, according to the paper. Telecom regulator Trai in its latest paper to regulate internet messaging and callings app like WhatsApp, Google Meet, Facetime etc said that with growing usage of over-the-top (OTT) applications for messaging, voice communication, has led to a transition from voice and SMS towards data as a primary source of revenue for telecom service providers globally. "In India, composition of the revenue basket of wireless access service providers has undergone a sea-change in the period from the year 2013 to 2022," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in its consultation paper on "Regulatory Mechanism for Over-The-T

Trai unveils easier regulations for submarine cable landing stations

Two categories of CLS recommended for easing the setting up of facilities

Telecom service providers log in to AI filter to stop pesky calls: Trai

Despite the latest development, Trai believes pesky calls are one area where a lot of work is left

Trai meet with telcos on pesky marketing calls, messages on Mar 27

TRAI is scheduled to meet telecom companies on March 27 on the development and implementation of Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC) detect solutions, as the regulator continues its offensive against pesky marketing calls and messages. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) further said that the exploitation of the DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) platform to bring all access providers (telcos) together with respect to UCC detect solutions will be a positive step in this direction. The formulation of a framework for sharing of UCC data detected by access providers on DLT platform, strict action on Principal Entities and Registered Telemarketers for non-compliance of Regulation, use of AI/ML-based anti-phishing system, implementation of RegTech solution on DLT platform for promotional Voice calls, implementation of Digital Consent Acquisition and updates of the 'Regulatory Sandbox' established for UCC Detect will be discussed in the meeting. "As part of a ...

Private channels to have 30-min slot for 'public interest' programmes

Part of new uplinking-downlinking rules prescribed by I&B ministry

Vaishnaw wants telcos to 'significantly' improve quality of service

Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday assured the sector of more reforms in offing but asserted that the industry too will have to do its bit and reciprocate by improving service quality "significantly". He indicated that service quality parameters will be significantly increased, and that Telecom Department will approach Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in this regard. "I will be requesting Department (Telecom Department) to send a new consultation paper to TRAI for significantly increasing the quality of service parameters almost making it 3X or 4X of what it is today," Vaishnaw said at an event organised by Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA). The minister exhorted the industry including telecom operators and infrastructure providers to move "full steam ahead" on improving quality of services in the country, now that a slew of reforms have been announced and more are lined up. The minister said initiatives cannot be one-sided, and the equatio

Remove price cap and channel bundling restrictions: Broadcasters tell TRAI

Industry lobby responds to regulator's consultation paper on the New Tariff Order (NTO 2.0) in the sector.

TRAI provides clarity on tariff plan with month-wise recharge date

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) clarified that in case the same date for such renewal is not available in a month, the date of renewal will be the last date of that month

Reliance Jio complaints to Trai over Vodafone Idea new tariff plans

Reliance Jio is learnt to have written to the sector regulator Trai complaining that the new tariff structure of Vodafone Idea allegedly restricts entry-level customers to port their mobile number

HC reserves verdict on petitions filed against TRAI's new tariff order

The new tariff order was issued in January this year. It imposes lower fees, and a price cap on the subscription fees for pay channels, among other things