TRAI seeks to amend interconnect norms

TRAI seeks to amend interconnect norms

Context

Invites comments on draft by May 18

What has happened?

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday issued a draft document that proposes to amend certain norms of the interconnection regulations that were released in January this year.

‘Widening time frame’

• The ‘Draft Telecommunication Interconnection (Amendment) Regulations 2018’, among other things, proposes that the time frame for provisioning of ports for initial interconnection and augmentation be increased to a maximum of 42 working days.
• The regulator has also proposed that each service provider shall provide its forecast of busy hour outgoing traffic for each POI (point of interconnection), at intervals of every six months to the interconnecting service provider.
• The first such forecast has to be given within two months from the commencement of these amended regulations
• Additionally, a service provider can ask another operator for additional ports, if the projected utilization of the capacity is likely to exceed 85% over a 60-day period.

Sought views

The regulator has sought views and comments from the industry by May 18 on the draft.