NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday allowed unrestricted Internet telephony services, permitting national long distance (NLD) operators to connect to Internet service providers (ISPs) through public Internet. Though the move would lead to reduction in STD call charges, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), representing GSM operators, has opposed it.
“It is envisaged that customers will ultimately benefit from the cost effective and innovative internet telephony service. These recommendations will put the Indian telecom sector in tune with global trends. The grey market tendencies shall be curtailed,” TRAI said in a statement.
The STD service providers would be connected to ISPs through public Internet for the purpose and the two service providers would have mutual agreement for the same. It will allow calls from personal computers to fixed line and mobile phones. The Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), a technical arm of the Department of Telecommunications, will work out the number plan for the ISPs to enable them to offer telephone services.
To make Internet telephony secure, TRAI has said that all ISPs interested to provide unrestricted Internet telephony would install ‘Lawful Interception’ equipment. TRAI also said due importance has been given for level playing to various service providers, interconnection mechanism, inter connect usage charges, numbering, lawful interception, emergency number dialling, interoperability, quality of service and others.
However, COAI has demanded that there should be level-playing field while allowing unrestricted Internet telephony. “TRAI recommendations are against the basic principle of level-playing field since they allow unrestricted internet telephony to ISPs at no additional cost. “Unrestricted Internet telephony will infringe upon the scope of access providers and destroy the business viability of the existing service providers,” said T. V. Ramachandran, Director General, COAI.
“The existing mobile and other operators have obtained access licence after paying a huge entry fee, which is as high as Rs. 1,650 crore for pan-India licence. It is unfair to allow unfettered access to ISPs. To maintain the level-playing field, it is imperative that ISPs should be required to migrate to UASL licence and should be subject to the same entry fee, licence fee revenue share and other terms and conditions as are applicable to existing licensees,” Mr. Ramachandran demanded.-Hindu
“It is envisaged that customers will ultimately benefit from the cost effective and innovative internet telephony service. These recommendations will put the Indian telecom sector in tune with global trends. The grey market tendencies shall be curtailed,” TRAI said in a statement.
The STD service providers would be connected to ISPs through public Internet for the purpose and the two service providers would have mutual agreement for the same. It will allow calls from personal computers to fixed line and mobile phones. The Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), a technical arm of the Department of Telecommunications, will work out the number plan for the ISPs to enable them to offer telephone services.
To make Internet telephony secure, TRAI has said that all ISPs interested to provide unrestricted Internet telephony would install ‘Lawful Interception’ equipment. TRAI also said due importance has been given for level playing to various service providers, interconnection mechanism, inter connect usage charges, numbering, lawful interception, emergency number dialling, interoperability, quality of service and others.
However, COAI has demanded that there should be level-playing field while allowing unrestricted Internet telephony. “TRAI recommendations are against the basic principle of level-playing field since they allow unrestricted internet telephony to ISPs at no additional cost. “Unrestricted Internet telephony will infringe upon the scope of access providers and destroy the business viability of the existing service providers,” said T. V. Ramachandran, Director General, COAI.
“The existing mobile and other operators have obtained access licence after paying a huge entry fee, which is as high as Rs. 1,650 crore for pan-India licence. It is unfair to allow unfettered access to ISPs. To maintain the level-playing field, it is imperative that ISPs should be required to migrate to UASL licence and should be subject to the same entry fee, licence fee revenue share and other terms and conditions as are applicable to existing licensees,” Mr. Ramachandran demanded.-Hindu
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