The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released draft amendments to the telecommunication interconnection regulations on May 9, 2018. Most amendments deal with the point of interaction (POI) among different telecom operators. TRAI has come out with certain changes in terms and conditions for operators in search of fresh call connect ports from other telecom operators.
Some key amendments are given below:
• There is a change in time period for a service provider to request another operator for additional ports at POI from previous 30 days to 60 days. The projected utilisation capacity, required to make such a request, has increased to 85 per cent from earlier 60 per cent.
• The time-frame for providing ports for initial interconnection and augmentation is proposed to be increased to maximum 42 working days.
• The telecom operator must give forecast of outgoing call traffic of busy hours for each POI once every six months (April 1 and October 1) to interconnecting service provider.
• The first such forecast has to be given within two months from commencement of these amended regulations.
• The port charges and infrastructure charges for all ports, provided before the February 1, 2018, will remain payable on the terms that were applicable before February 1, 2018.
The regulations for telecom interconnection were first released by the TRAI on January 1, 2018. These were to direct telecom operators to enter into an interconnection agreement on a ‘non-discriminatory basis’ within 30 days of receiving connectivity request from another mobile operator. Other rules in the regulation related to setting up network connectivity agreements, seeking ports and augmenting POI, agreeing upon applicable set up and infrastructure charges, disconnection of ports and penalties for interconnection issues.
In 2016, the issue of inter-connectivity was a key issue between Reliance Jio and other established telecom operators like Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone. Jio had accused the older operators of not providing it sufficient POIs, thus leading to call failures. On the other hand, the other operators blamed free calls offered by Jio for high traffic in the network. In addition, TRAI had also recommended imposing ` 1,050 crore penalty each on Airtel and Vodafone and ` 950 crore on Idea Cellular for violating quality of service rules.