archiveTRAI

In what could be a major set back for incumbent mobile operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, Telecom regulator Trai has reportedly decided to reject their demand to increase the fees that they charge from Reliance Jio to terminate its calls on their networks. According to the TOI report, Trai has asked the incumbent operators to provide “requisite number” of interconnect points to Jio “at the earliest” and ensure that consumers are not put at an inconvenience due to lack of connectivity. “The operators, including Jio, have submitted call details and we are analysing them...

Telecom regulator Trai is mulling an action against annoying auto playing video advertisement. Video ads download automatically at the time of internet browsing, leading to a unwanted surge in data usage for consumers. Considering the growing concerns of consumers on these nagging video adds, Trai has decided to crack the whip on unwanted online brand publicity by advertisers. The issue, which has been noticed across platforms — mobile handsets or home broadband connections — is being taken seriously by the regulator and action may follow very soon, Trai chairman RS...

Opposing Trai’s proposal of imposing SUC linked to revenue, the ISP Association of India today said it plans to approach telecom minister Manoj Sinha and also telecom secretary to express its concern over the latest consultation paper by the sector regulator. “We are going to make a representation to the telecom minister and telecom secretary this week and seek a meeting with them to voice our concerns,” PTI report published in TOI quoted ISP Association of India (ISPAI) president, Rajesh Chharia as saying. The sector regulator Trai, last week, sought public feedback...

Taking a serious note of the call drop issue, telecom regulator Trai has proposed stricter quality norms for local areas and imposing financial disincentives for poor services. At present, the quality norms are at service area level but Trai feels such a calculation may give a “different picture” about the quality of customer experience. “There could be many areas or localities within the service area where the Quality of service (QoS) could be poor. One of the options for ensuring QoS could be through increased investments for infrastructure development by...

Telecom regulator Trai on Thursday sought public opinion on setting up of an ombudsman in the sector, for speedy resolution of rising subscriber complaints over issues such as wrong billing and poor service quality. Mooting the creation of a telecom ombudsman to sort out customer complaints, Trai, in its latest consultation paper has also sought views on modalities such as legal framework, structure, funding and the type of complaints that should be handled by the sector ombudsman, PTI report published in NDTV states. Besides this, the powers, functions and responsibilities...

The recent tariff cuts announced by telecom operators will not impact revenues as volume growth in data usage will compensate for it, according to analysts as reported by BusinessLine. “We expect mobile revenues to grow by over 8 per cent for Airtel and 13 per cent for Idea in 2016-17 driven by strong growth in data traffic despite falling yields,” said analysts at UBS. The data realization in terms of rupees per MB will reduce by 13-15 per cent over the next 2-3 years, strong data traffic growth of over 60...

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is planning to start consultation on quality benchmark for voice and data services in a fortnight to improve customer experience in the mobile market. According to sources, the regulator’s efforts to address the Quality of Service (QoS) norms is likely to come in the form of a consultation paper that would address both voice and data aspects as, reported by The Hindu. Trai in its frequent call drop test found most operators fail to meet service quality benchmark. The tolerance limit for call drops is...

India has large scale growth opportunities for the industry, but policy initiative remains a crucial factor for its success, believe experts. While speaking at ‘Digital Services Asia 2016’, earlier known as the VAS Asia, in New Delhi, A Robert Jerad Ravi, the Advisor (quality of services), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said, “Majority of apps which are based out of other countries are developed by Indians, either working out of India or stationed abroad. This process in itself is a business opportunity, which should be encouraged by the Government.”...

Like India, the US Federal Communications Commission is closely following its Indian counterpart’s step on net neutrality, which guarantees free and unbiased access to the web for all. The US regulatory authority chairman Tom Wheeler’s office wrote letter on 15th of June 2016 to Ram Sewak Sharma, Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, apprised the latter of the FCC’s recent win in the net neutrality debate with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upholding net neutrality rules passed by the regulator last year. “Chairman...