Trai moots interconnect exchanges in state capitals

KOLKATA: Trai chairman Nripendra Misra on Friday said there was a need for interconnect exchanges at every state capital to ease the problem of congestion and placed the onus on BSNL to lead this initiative because of its national footprint.

“Interconnection is a major problem and it is still not at the desired level,” Misra said at a programme organised by Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, while pointing out that Trai lacked the legal muscle to do much in this regard. Trai has approached the Supreme Court against a judgement of TDSAT on the interconnection issue.

Misra said Trai would soon hold talks with BSNL on the subject of interconnect exchanges and did not foresee any opposition from the incumbent operator to this arrangement. Discussions would also be held with MTNL since most traffic passed through Delhi and Mumbai.

“We intend to submit our recommendations to the government on the issue of 3G spectrum by September,” the Trai chairman said, pointing out that his endeavour would be to offer the “most acceptable solution”. However, operators here could consider the Swedish example of sharing indoor spectrum, as a lot of spectrum would thereby be released in the process and service providers would also be able to save on costs.

“Spectrum is the single-most biggest challenge in the telecom sector. If growth takes place at the same rate, operators may start complaining of paucity of spectrum in Kolkata circle also,” Misra said. A Bharti official alleged that GSM service providers had to pay anywhere between Rs 1-2 lakh as municipal levies in Bengal for putting up towers.