TRAI presents telecommunication interconnection regulations, 2018

TRAI Chairman RS Sharma in IndiaTRAI (The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) on Tuesday announced the Telecommunication Interconnection Regulations, 2018.

The latest interconnection regulation will be effective from February 2018. The latest guideline follows dispute between Reliance Jio and established telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India.

TRAI said it observed instances of refusal to enter into interconnection agreement; refusal to make available adequate interconnection capacity; and posturing for disconnection of interconnection facility on flimsy grounds, by some TSPs.

As per the new guideline, a service provider who intends to enter into an interconnection agreement with another service provider shall place request to such service provider.

The service provider, to whom request has been made for entering into interconnection agreement, shall, within five working days of receipt of the request, send draft interconnection agreement to the service provider from whom the request was received.

On receipt of the draft interconnection agreement, the service provider who made the request for entering into interconnection agreement shall, within five working days, submit its suggestions and objections, if any, on such draft to the other service provider.

The service provider to whom request has been made for entering into interconnection agreement shall, within thirty days of receipt of request, enter into interconnection agreement, on non-discriminatory basis, with the requesting service provider.

Indian telecom operators should negotiate and decide interconnection charges subject to the regulations or directions issued by TRAI and such charges should be reasonable, transparent and non-discriminatory.

The service provider, who made the request for entering into interconnection agreement, shall seek ports at POIs from the other service provider for two years from the date of establishment of initial interconnection to meet the demand of incoming and outgoing traffic at the POIs.

The total ports existing at a POI shall be converted for carrying one way traffic at the end of two years from the date of establishment of initial interconnection or on the 1 st February, 2018, whichever is later.

The number of ports for sending the outgoing traffic of each service provider to the other service provider should be in proportion to their outgoing traffics averaged over a period of preceding three months; and after the conversion of ports, each service provider shall seek ports to meet the requirement of its outgoing traffic.

The service provider, who made request for entering into interconnection agreement, shall be liable to furnish bank guarantee, for a period of six months from the date of establishment of initial interconnection for the total number of ports sought during such period, if demanded by the service provider to whom request for entering into interconnection agreement was made: Provided that the amount of such bank guarantee shall be determined in the manner specified in the Schedule-I to these regulations.

At the end of six months from the date of establishment of initial interconnection or on 1 February, 2018, whichever is later, liability to furnish bank guarantee shall be determined in the following manner:

the interconnection usage charges payable by the two interconnecting service providers to each other for the two months prior to the end of six months from the date of establishment of initial interconnection or 1 February, 2018, whichever is later, shall be calculated and the service provider who is liable to pay interconnection usage charges, after adjustment, to the other service provider, shall be liable to furnish bank guarantee for a period of six months, if demanded by the other service provider;

the bank guarantee shall be limited to the amount of interconnection usage charges payable by a service provider after adjustment as discussed in the above clause

this process to determine the liability of a service provider to furnish the bank guarantee shall be repeated at the end of every six month.

The maximum amount of bank guarantee payable by telecom service provider should be equivalent to maximum net IUC payable by the service provider for a period of two months for the period of six months from the date of establishment of initial interconnection.