Coronavirus lockdown: Trai defers regulatory filings by six weeks

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has on Sunday allowed a six-week extension to telecom operators to file their monthly and quarterly reports, as a part of regulatory compliance, in the wake of national lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

"Considering the pandemic, we have in-principle extended deadline to six weeks for telecom service providers to file their monthly as well as quarterly reports," Trai secretary Sunil K Gupta told ETT.

The telecom operators have urged the regulator to defer the filing of mandatory monthly and quarterly reports by at least by six weeks in the wake of the nationwide lockdown to arrest the spread of Covid-19.


Additional time of at least six weeks from the due date must be given to file monthly and quarterly reports due for submission in April, the Cellular Operators Association of India said in a letter dated March 26 to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman RS Sharma. The association represents private telcos Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Vodafone Idea.

India ordered a 21-day national lockdown starting March 25, following which the telecom companies asked most of their staff to work from home.

“Regular day-to-day operations of telecom service operators have been impacted with minimal staff manning the requirements,” Rajan S Mathews, director-general of COAI, said in the letter.

Telcos are required to submit multiple datasheets and reports to Trai as a part of regulatory compliances. These include reporting of their tariff packs as well as inactive or suspended subscribers.

“In the present crisis, there is a significant strain on the human resources of the operators as they are grappling with the operational issues arising from the Covid-19 outbreak on one hand, while also trying to fulfil the licensing compliance on the other hand,” the group said.

The telcos are currently focussed on maintaining their networks on a war footing amid a jump in consumption.

“It is extremely difficult for our members to submit various monthly and quarterly reports on the due date as per the Trai requirements as most of these reports require circle-wise compilation,” COAI said, adding that in the current environment, it would not be possible.

Meanwhile, the regulator has suspended all open house discussions, which allow industry stakeholders and officials to discuss issues that require attention and better policymaking.

Trai is promoting real-time updates on the coronavirus and information to prevent community transmission via the MyGov.in site, which also provides quarantine guidelines prevalent across states.