Trai moots single authorisation for all telecom services

New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has also suggested one authorisation for satellite telecommunication, merging the VSAT and Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS) licences.

As per the proposal, a unified authorisation will enable an entity to offer all kinds of telecom services including mobile, internet, landline, national long distance (NLD), international long distance (ILD), satellite, machine-to-machine (M2M), etc across the country.

The regulator has suggested reducing the entry fee for taking various authorisations and not charging any fee for renewal of the authorisations.

If and when accepted by the government, the authorisation mechanism will replace the current licensing regime.

While Trai has laid out authorisation terms and conditions for telecom operators, satellite players, internet service providers and M2M among others, over-the-top (OTT) has been kept out of the mechanism.

Elaborating on the three service authorisations, Trai said the main service authorisation can be granted in two subcategories - network service operator (NSO) and virtual network operator (VNO).

Auxiliary service authorisation should be given for services like PMRTS, PM-WANI, M2M service, WPAN/ WLAN connectivity service, enterprise communication services, IFMC, data communication service between aircraft and ground stations, etc.

Captive service authorisation is meant for establishment of captive networks like private networks, it said.

The regulator has reworked the existing licensing regime for different services and categories and merged various categories. For instance, the unified service authorisation has been introduced to achieve the objective of 'One nation - one authorisation' across services and service areas.

The telecom department (DoT) will now need to consider the recommendations, and accept or reject them, or send them back to the regulator for changes.

If it accepts them, telcos like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea will not be required to take multiple authorisations for each service.

Currently, despite taking a pan-India unified license, they have to work circle-wise for different services.

Under the proposed framework, "advantages such as a flexibility to carry its own traffic and interconnect with other authorised entities will be available in the immediate time frame," Trai said in its over 800-page recommendations. "The authority will review the interconnection framework and make it in line with the above recommendations, wherever required."