Page 9 - Trai

Reliance Jio, Airtel add 1.9 million mobile subscribers in February: Trai

Telecom operators Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel added 19.8 lakh mobile subscribers month-on-month in February, even as Vodafone Idea lost 20 lakh customers, according to data released by Trai on Thursday. India's largest telecom player Reliance Jio added the maximum number of mobile subscribers at about 10 lakh, taking its wireless subscriber tally to 42.71 crore users in February, as against 42.61 crore in January. Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel gained 9.82 lakh mobile users during February and ended the month with a wireless subscriber base of 36.98 crore. Vodafone Idea lost 20 lakh subscribers in the wireless category as its mobile subscriber base shrunk to 23.79 crore, as per data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). "...the total Broadband Subscribers increased from 839.18 million at the end of January-23 to 839.33 million at the end of February-23 with a monthly growth rate of 0.02 per cent," the release said. The top five service providers constituted 98.

Scammers target WhatsApp users with phishing calls from foreign shores

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has cracked down severely on intrusive calls and messages over the past few months

Trai backs Jio's method to calculate additional charges for shared spectrum

The Trai has backed Jio's approach, which states that the additional fees for shared spectrum can be levied only in the band in which airwaves are shared

Trai begins consultation process to define international traffic

The telecom regulator Trai on Tuesday floated a consultation paper to define international traffic. The definitions are required for clarity in existing rules particularly for rules around telemarketing messages. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) through a reference dated August 30, 2022, requested the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to provide its recommendations on definition of international SMS and domestic SMS. "The Authority noted that the term 'international traffic' has not been defined in the Unified License and that 'international SMS' is a type of 'international traffic'. Therefore, the Authority is of the view that instead of defining international SMS in the Unified License Agreement, it would be appropriate to define the term 'international traffic', instead," Trai said in a statement. The load carried on a telecommunication network is called traffic, or more specifically 'telecommunication traffic'. Telecommunication traffic comprises several t

Direct access of service providers' data to DoT for ease of doing biz: Trai

The Department of Telecom should create a secured system to seamlessly access service providers' data like command logs and supply chain documents to simplify existing security conditions prescribed under current permits, sector regulator Trai recommended on Tuesday. The telecom service providers are required to keep the records of all the operation and maintenance command logs for a period of 12 months, including the actual command given, who gave the command, when it was given with date and time and from where. The same set of information is further required to be stored for next 24 months in a non-online mode which becomes voluminous. In its recommendation on "Ease of Doing Business in Telecom and Broadcasting Sector", the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommended that the DoT should review and simplify the existing security conditions prescribed in the telecom licence agreement regarding maintaining command logs and supply chain documents. "Instead of seeking ever

Incremental SUC must be applicable only on band shared among telcos: Trai

Incremental spectrum usage charges should be applicable only on frequency bands that are shared among telecom operators and not on the entire radiowaves held by them, telecom regulator Trai reiterated its recommendation on Tuesday. The Department of Telecom had earlier asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to reconsider its recommendation that an increment of 0.5 per cent on the SUC rate should apply to the spectrum holding in a specific band in which sharing is taking place, and not on the entire spectrum holding (all bands) of the telecom operator. "The Authority concurs with the views of the stakeholders that in case incremental SUC is made applicable on an overall weighted average, the cost of spectrum sharing could surpass the benefits achieved by the TSPs. "Moreover, there is no rationale in incrementing overall weighted average SUC, post sharing of spectrum in a specific band(s)," Trai said in its reply to the DoT. At present, telecom operators use various spectrum

Trai recommends measures to improve telecom coverage areas of Ladakh

The telecom regulator Trai on Monday suggested ways to improve telecom coverage and backhaul infrastructure in far-flung areas of Ladakh, with recommendations ranging from resource pooling across telcos on spare backhaul transmission capacity to maintaining a waiting list of service demand by licensed operators. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said that many remote areas in Ladakh lack mobile towers, resulting in network issues, particularly for those residing near the LAC and the Line of Control (LoC). "As these areas are of strategic importance, mobile connectivity is crucial for ensuring the safety of the region by facilitating round-the-clock communication to the security forces deployed in these regions," Trai statement said. Further, Trai noted that media reports too have highlighted the challenges faced by the people living near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in accessing high-speed internet, which is critical for pursuing online education and accessing digital

Free 5G services: Trai officials indicate that Vi charges may not hold

Vi recently approached Trai with a complaint that Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, which it called SMP, are indulging in predatory pricing with their respective unlimited 5G offers

Airtel gripe vicious, aims to defame our user-friendly tariffs: Jio to Trai

Bharti Airtel recent requested Trai to bring content aired via broadband under the regulatory fold and keep a check on discriminatory bundling tactics

Deliberate attempt by Airtel to defame Jio's user friendly tariffs: RJIL

RJIL said a close reading of the complaint letter would clearly establish that Airtel's sole grouse is that JioFiber is offering reasonable tariffs to customers

Airtel flags concerns over broadcast content on unregistered digital sites

Bharti Airtel has told regulator Trai that broadcasters are violating the downlinking policy by providing broadcast content to unregistered digital distribution platforms. The telecom player's submission to the watchdog is seen as an apparent reference to Jio TV showing IPL 2023 matches. Bharti Airtel has said the delivery of the same broadcast on broadband through an app on large screen has created an anti-competitive environment and a non-level playing field for the regulated Distribution Platforms (DPOs). "As per MIB's downlinking policy, the broadcaster is under an obligation to provide services only through registered DPOs (such as DTH providers). By providing broadcast content to unregistered digital distribution platforms, the broadcasters are violating the downlinking policy which needs to be addressed by MIB (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) and Trai," Airtel said. An e-mail query sent to Reliance Jio did not elicit any immediate response. According to Bharti Air

To auction spectrum for space-based communications or not: Trai, DoT differ

The government is keen to auction the spectrum for space-based communications

Trai blocks 120 sender IDs for bulk messaging over Chinese link in 2 months

An investigation by Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) revealed that the sender IDs were hosted from China

Trai plans to repeal regulation on dial-up, leased line internet service

Telecom regulator TRAI on Monday issued a draft to repeal the regulation on quality of service of dial-up and leased line internet access service. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said that there are no dial-up subscribers now and high-speed broadband services are being provided through optical fibres, wireless technologies such as 4G. "Authority decided to repeal the Regulation on quality of service of dial-up and leased line internet access service, 2001 (4 of 2001) with effect from the date of its notification in the Official Gazette," the draft said. TRAI has sought comments on the draft by April 17. The regulation on quality of service of dial-up and leased line internet access service, 2001, was notified with the primary aim of specifying the quality of service benchmarks to be achieved by the service providers, ensure customer satisfaction with the network performance and to protect the interests of subscribers of the internet service. Under these regulation

Trai issues suggestions on 'Promoting Local Manufacturing in Broadcasting'

It said that there is a need to focus on emerging technologies and tenets of the era of convergence and aim at building an ecosystem for broadcast equipment

Trai directs telecom companies to report network outages with reasons

The telecom regulator Trai on Tuesday directed telecom operators to start reporting about network outages that affect all consumers in a district. The direction has come into force with immediate effect. "..the access service providers have been directed to report...all incidents of major network outages affecting the telecom services to the entire consumers of a district continuously for a period of more than four hours, within 24 hours of their occurrence," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in a statement. The development follows after the regulator learnt about major network outages in the country of prolonged duration especially in the border and hilly areas, which adversely affect the quality of services being provided. Trai has directed telecom operators to report the root cause of major network outages and corrective actions taken by the telecom operators within 72 hours of restoration of the service. The regulator said that the information will be colle

Trai asks telcos to take action on pesky telemarketing calls, messages

Trai on Monday asked telcos to take immediate action to curb pesky calls and messages by getting banks and FIs to clean up unused templates, as the regulator initiated a slew of steps to crackdown on the issue of unsolicited commercial communications (UCC) that, at times, leads to instances of frauds and scams. Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indian (Trai) held a review meeting with telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone Idea (VIL) on issue of UCC detect system. During the meeting, Vodafone Idea made a presentation on a AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning) system that can analyse and detect patterns when it comes to fraudulent messages being sent from mobile numbers by scammers. Trai said permission will now be given to VIL for a pilot, and based on its success Trai will come out with principles/regulations for such solutions in the industry. The deadline for review of implementation of UCC detect system using AI/ML is May 1. "Today we have made it ver

Violation of norms led to 32,032 disconnections in 2022: Vaishnaw

Telecom operators disconnected 15,382 and 32,032 connections during 2021 and 2022, respectively over violation of regulations, meant to curb Unsolicited Commercial Communication or pesky marketing calls and messages, Parliament was informed on Friday. Till date, TRAI has imposed financial disincentives of Rs 34.9 crore on the access service providers for failing to curb unsolicited commercial communications in their networks from Registered Telemarketers, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation - 2018 to curb the Unsolicited Commercial Communication (UCC). "The Access Service Providers have disconnected 15,382 and 32,032 connections during the calendar year - 2021 and 2022, respectively for violating TCCCPR-2018," Vaishnaw said. To another question in Rajya Sabha on domestic production of telecom equipments, Minister of State for

Trai to again meet telecom firms next week to end spam call menace

Discussion will seek to end unsolicited communication using technology, regulations

Consent-seeking tech top Trai pick to curb pesky calls and messages

It will take customers' consent on the brands or companies they would like to receive communication from