The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has called on the department of telecommunications and ministry of information and broadcasting to speed up implementation of 21 of its recommendations concerning the sectors. It has said that some of the recommendations are pending since 2012.
As per the regulator, over the last few years, it has sent a number of recommendations to the DoT and MIB on important issues concerning growth of telecommunications services and broadcasting and cable services in the country, either on reference from the DoT/MIB or suo moto.
During 2020-21, Trai has worked with both DoT and MIB and as a result of the concerted efforts and review meetings held at Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) level, a number of these recommendations have been accepted during the period. “However, many of the important recommendations are still pending for decision/implementation by DoT and MIB which if implemented would have significant positive impact on the telecommunication and broadcasting sector,” Trai said in its annual report for 2020-21.
Some of the major recommendations not implemented by DoT include allocation and pricing of backhaul spectrum, which came in August 2014. The regulator had recommended charging a nominal fee for backhaul spectrum and not auctions. It had said that E band carriers should be charged at Rs 10,000 per annum per carrier of 250 MHz each and there should be initial promotional discount of 50% for three years from the date of allocation of first carrier in this band.
Apart from this, its 2018 recommendations on privacy, security and ownership of data in the telecom sector as well as proposals around reforming guidelines for transfer and merger of telecom licences, which came in 2020, have not been implemented so far. Similarly, recommendations on spectrum usage charges (SUC) and net neutrality among others have not been implemented. In all, 11 recommendations on telecom sector since 2014 have not been implemented by DoT.
“It is felt that a periodic review of the implementation status of all recommendations of Trai should be done at the highest level. With an objective to put in place a mechanism whereby there is a periodic review of implementation of pending recommendations of Trai in DoT/MIB and to create central repository for real-time tracking of status of all recommendations, Trai has developed a recommendation status portal which can be accessed jointly by Trai, DoT and MIB,” the report said.
During the year, the DoT has fully or partially accepted 12 recommendations given by Trai for telecom sector.
Similarly, for the MIB, 10 of Trai’s recommendations have been not implemented while 3 proposals have been accepted. Apart from the recommendations, Trai has issued 7 directions and amendments related to the telecom sector.