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Siddharth Zarabi
NEW DELHI, JAN 24: A pathbreaking uniform licence structure for different telecom services like fixed, cellular, radio paging among others, forms part of a slew of recommendations of the GoT draft discussion paper on telecom. The GoT has also favoured a dual-tariff structure for the entire spectrum of telecom services and has sought to restore the primacy of the Trai in regulating new entrants.
The paper has recommended the issue of licences for an initial period of 20 years, followed by 10-year extensions thereafter. However, satellite service providers will be excluded from the purview of this licence structure. The terms of final licences in all categories will be finalised by Trai by June 30, alongwith the tariff structure.
The new policy framework seeks to categorise the telecom service sector on the following lines -- cellular mobile service provider (CMSP), fixed service providers (FSP) and cable service providers (CSP), collectively referred to as Access Providers, radio paging service providers(RPSP), national long distance operators (NLDO), international long distance operators (ILDO), other service providers (OSP), global mobile personal communication by satellite (GMPCS) and V-Sat providers.
CMSPs shall now be permitted to provide mobile telephony services including long distance traffic within their service area without an additional licence. They would be eligible to obtain licences for any number of service areas, but will have to take separate licences for each.
CMSPs shall also be allowed direct inter-connectivity between themselves and other access providers within their area of operation. In addition, they will also be permitted to use and share infrastructure and other services with any other service provider. The service areas will be categorised into four metro circles and telecom circles as per existing policy.
DoT and MTNL would be permitted as the third operator in each service area in a time bound manner, subject to the immediately available frequency spectrum band. Spectrumutilisation will be reviewed regularly in order to rationalise usage, requirements of market, competition and other interests of the public.
The entry of the new operators in a cellular service area shall be based on the recommendation of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), who will review this as required and no later than every two years. The CMSP operators would be required to pay a one-time entry fee, to be decided by the TRAI. Apart from this, CMSP operators would also be required to pay licence fee based on a revenue sharing basis.
The percentage of revenue share shall be applicable on the gross cellular mobile revenue earned by a CMSP. It is proposed that the appropriate level of entry fee and revenue sharing arrangement for different service areas would be recommended by TRAI in a time-bound manner by June 30, 1999.
The Fixed Service Providers (FSP) shall be freely permitted to provide last mile linkages to provide fixed services and carry long distance traffic within their servicearea without seeking an additional licence. Direct interconnectivity between FSPs and other types of service providers will be allowed, in addition to shared use of infrastructure & services.
The FSP may also utilise last mile linkages or transmission links within its service area from other service providers and will be free to provide all types of fixed services including voice/non-voice messages, data services, information & entertainment services in their service area.
Two different concepts have been suggested in regard to the number of FSPs in each service area. These are multiple operators or two operators (duopoly), on the lines of existing basic telephony at present. The percentage of revenue share shall be applicable on the entire revenue earned by the FSP through provision of various services and will be decided by the TRAI in a time-bound manner by June 30, 1999.
RPSPs shall be permitted to provide paging services within their service area of operation. Direct interconnectivity betweenlicenced RPSPs and any other type of access service provider in their area of operation shall be permitted. RPSPs shall be granted separate licence for each service area and shall be eligible to obtain multiple licences. The entry of more operators in paging shall also be governed by the TRAI who will review this as required and no later than every two years.
The radio paging licensees shall pay a one-time entry fee on the recommendations of the TRAI. All radio paging licencees shall pay licence fee as a revenue share. The percentage of revenue share shall be applicable on the entire gross radio paging revenue earned by the RPSP. It is proposed that the appropriate level of entry fee and revenue share arrangement for different service areas of operation will be recommended by TRAI in a time-bound manner by June 30, 1999.
The policy has also dwelt on the emergence of large number of OSPs who focus on developing, offering and maintaining specialised services in a variety of diverse sectors includingbanking, commerce, tele-education, tele-medicine, virtual office, besides applications like voice, data, multimedia and information services.
These OSPs will offer services by riding piggyback on the network infrastructure (access/national backbone/ international backbone) of other players. The OSP licence would be awarded without any entry fee, but charged licence fees on revenue sharing basis. The terms of the final GMPCS licence will be finalised in consultation with TRAI by June 30, 1999.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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