Page 7 - Trai

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

Trai said Jio tariffs not violationt: Devusinh Chauhan on predatory pricing

Regulator TRAI has taken a view that tariffs offered by Reliance Jio are not in violation of the tariff orders after it received a complaint that live TV channels on the telco's broadband offering amounted to predatory pricing, Parliament was informed on Friday. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) received a complaint from a telecom service provider, where it was alleged that Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) is offering services in contravention of the Tariff orders issued by the regulator. "On receipt of the complaint, TRAI sought response from RJIL. On examination of the complaint and the response received from RJIL, TRAI is of the opinion that the tariffs offered by RJIL are not in violation of the Tariff orders," Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. Under the provisions of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act, 1997, TRAI regulates tariffs for the telecommunications sector in the country. The .

TRAI imposes penalty of Rs 35 cr on telcos for violating call, sms norms

Telecom regulator Trai has imposed a penalty of Rs 34.99 crore on service providers for failing to curb pesky calls and sms on their network, Parliament was informed on Friday. Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha said that as per the reports, telecom operators have disconnected 15,382 and 32,032 connections during the calendar year- 2021 and 2022, respectively, for violating Telecom Commercial Communication Customers Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), 2018. "TRAI has imposed financial disincentives of Rs 34,99,98,000 on the Access Service Providers for failing to curb unsolicited commercial communications in their networks from Registered Telemarketers," Vaishnaw said.

Need independent statutory authority to develop, regulate AI: Trai

Says authority must have power to define AI's responsible use and frame rules

DoT to take decision on satellite earth station gateways next week

In November 2022, Trai had recommended a separate pan-India licence for assembling satellite earth station gateways

DoT likely to approach Trai for auction of new spectrum bands this week

The Department of Telecom is likely to approach sector regulator Trai this week for auction of a set of spectrum bands as well as radio waves held by permits that are due to expire in 2024, an official source said. The source said that DoT is expected to hold the auction in the March quarter of the current fiscal. "DoT will send reference to Trai in a couple of days for auction of 37 GHz band and radio waves of telecom licenses that are due for renewal in 2024," the source told PTI on condition of anonymity. The reference is likely to include the auction of spectrum in 600 megahertz band as well as the frequency that remained unsold in the auction held in 2022. The government had put on offer spectrum in 10 bands but received no bids for airwaves in 600 MHz, 800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands. About two-thirds of the bids were for the 5G bands (3300 Mhz and 26 GHz), while more than a quarter of the demand came in the 700 Mhz band -- a band that had gone unsold in the previous two auctions

TRAI agreed to fresh talks on regulating OTTs after big DoT push: officials

The telecom authority regulator had earlier ruled out regulations for OTTs, now feels the need to bring together stakeholders, officials say

Trai seeks public views on banning of internet-based calls, messaging apps

Regulator Trai on Friday floated a consultation paper to explore a framework for internet-based calls and messaging apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Apple's FaceTime etc. and selectively ban their services in special situations. The consultation paper on "Regulatory Mechanism for Over-The-Top (OTT) Communication Services, and Selective Banning of OTT Services" follows a suggestion of a parliamentary panel to the Department of Telecom (DoT) to "explore option of banning selective services such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram etc. instead of banning the internet as a whole" in an emergency situation. The panel has recommended the DoT to examine the recommendation of Trai and come out with a policy which will enable the selective banning of OTT services such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram during unrest and crisis as these apps are prone to be used by terrorists or anti-national elements in specified regions. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has sought views o

Trai to start consultation on regulation of OTT apps soon: Report

The DoT wants to regulate only communication OTT apps like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram, and not the broadcasting ones like Netflix and Amazon Prime