Trai to relook at procedures for ease of doing business
NEW DELHI: The telecom regulator is reviewing “procedural issues” in the sector to make it more business friendly, its chairman said.
“In the consultation paper floated by us on March 14, we are looking at the procedural and not the policy issues,” Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s RS Sharma told ET.
He, however, said that if the paper yields some policy matters which need reconsideration, the regulator will consider them.
The consultation paper comes after a meeting between industry CEOs and the regulator at the beginning of the year to identify areas that require regulatory clarity. Trai has sought stakeholder inputs by April 11, after which it will take a call on additional steps towards “simplification of processes”.
“This could probably entail looking at spectrum sharing, sharing trading or any other rules governing the sector, provided it is felt that these need to be tweaked or improved for the sake of doing business in the sector,” Sharma said.
Explaining the current exercise pertaining to ease of doing business in the telecom sector, Sharma said telecom service providers are no longer required to manually submit performance indicators, as technology-based processes and automation are bringing reports directly to the regulator.
“So in the real world many such old reporting requirements might have become obsolete… why should they be carried out?” he said.
Through the paper, the regulator is seeking companies’ inputs on what they feel are redundant steps. “Redundant processes could be classified as two kinds. One would include adding layers without any value addition, and the second could actually be having a layer, which adds very little value. Both could be removed,” he said.
The regulator had even floated a consultation paper around “promotional offers”, which it said needed some clarity after the incumbent operators— Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone—cried foul over Reliance Jio Infocomm’s promotional offer of free voice and data, which they said was illegally extended. The matter is sub judice.
The incumbent operators have been at loggerheads with the regulator over multiple issues including call drops and penalties recommended on incumbents for inadequate points of interconnect released to Jio. Trai has been asked to once again relook Jio’s promotional offer and inform the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate and Tribunal within two weeks.
“In the consultation paper floated by us on March 14, we are looking at the procedural and not the policy issues,” Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s RS Sharma told ET.
He, however, said that if the paper yields some policy matters which need reconsideration, the regulator will consider them.
The consultation paper comes after a meeting between industry CEOs and the regulator at the beginning of the year to identify areas that require regulatory clarity. Trai has sought stakeholder inputs by April 11, after which it will take a call on additional steps towards “simplification of processes”.
“This could probably entail looking at spectrum sharing, sharing trading or any other rules governing the sector, provided it is felt that these need to be tweaked or improved for the sake of doing business in the sector,” Sharma said.
Explaining the current exercise pertaining to ease of doing business in the telecom sector, Sharma said telecom service providers are no longer required to manually submit performance indicators, as technology-based processes and automation are bringing reports directly to the regulator.
“So in the real world many such old reporting requirements might have become obsolete… why should they be carried out?” he said.
Through the paper, the regulator is seeking companies’ inputs on what they feel are redundant steps. “Redundant processes could be classified as two kinds. One would include adding layers without any value addition, and the second could actually be having a layer, which adds very little value. Both could be removed,” he said.
The regulator had even floated a consultation paper around “promotional offers”, which it said needed some clarity after the incumbent operators— Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone—cried foul over Reliance Jio Infocomm’s promotional offer of free voice and data, which they said was illegally extended. The matter is sub judice.
The incumbent operators have been at loggerheads with the regulator over multiple issues including call drops and penalties recommended on incumbents for inadequate points of interconnect released to Jio. Trai has been asked to once again relook Jio’s promotional offer and inform the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate and Tribunal within two weeks.
