Govt finalises draft licence pact for ILD

the centre has finalised the draft licence agreement for international long distance services, scheduled to be opened up from april, and invited comments from the industry on the document by december 31. as per the draft licence agreement, the terms and conditions of which were accepted by the communications ministry based on recommendations of the telecom regulatory authority of india's, one-time entry fee for isd players has been pegged at rs 25 crore with revenue sharing of 15 per cent of adjusted gross revenue. currently videsh sanchar nigam is the only isd player and hence opening up of the market holds promise of a substantial reduction in tariffs. as per the eligibility criteria the net worth of the players has been pegged at rs 25 crore. apart from rs 25-crore down payment as entry fee, a bank guarantee for identical amount favouring the licensor guaranteeing due fulfilment of the stipulated roll out conditions, has also been sought. the period of the licence would be 20 years, and there is a provision for its automatic extension by five years. other eligibility conditions include submission of a detailed network roll out plan, and a written commitment that ild operators will adhere to interoperability conditions in a multi-operators environment and comply with quality of service norms amongst others. trai, in its recommendations on november 12, had adopted a technology neutral approach, suggesting that ild operators be permitted to deploy voice over internet protocol and other data communication protocols to engineer their networks. notably, trai recommended two types of ild service, one for toll quality service and other for less than toll quality service, with the latter aimed at providing service at a lower tariff rate and on a different dialling code. listing out the scope of ild services, the regulator had said ild operators should be required to provide bearer services so that end to end tele-services such as voice, data, fax, video and multi-media could be provided by access provider to the customers. with regard to roll out conditions, trai had recommended that within a period of three years from the date of licence agreement, receipt and delivery of traffic from and to all exchanges in the country should be ensured through one or more gateway switches having appropriate interconnections with national long distance operaters. for this, a minimum of four points of presence would need to be established one in each region of the country.

Govt finalises draft licence pact for ILD

THE CENTRE has finalised the draft licence agreement for International Long Distance services, scheduled to be opened up from April, and invited comments from the industry on the document by December 31.

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