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Thomas K. Thomas

Currently, TRAI can recommend penalty on defaulters, but does not have any independent authority to impose punitive measures.

New Delhi , Nov. 22

The Department of Telecom is considering a proposal to give powers to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to take action against operators who do not offer services according to the prescribed quality norms. In a bid to be more effective TRAI had proposed a slew of measures including powers to impose punitive measures against operators who violate its regulations. TRAI has sent a list of its demands to the Ministry of Communications.

Senior DoT officials said that the proposal was being considered and TRAI may be given some additional powers to enforce quality of services. "We are looking at all aspects of the issue including the fact that the quality of services is not improving despite TRAI repeatedly pointing to the operators to meet the set standards," said a DoT official.

TRAI has said that the absence of powers to directly impose penalty on erring operators have made the regulation on quality of services meaningless. As per the current policy, TRAI can only set the standards for offering quality of service and monitor the progress made by the operators in achieving the standards. "Though the regulator points out the low standards of services to these operators during the survey conducted periodically, it is not binding on them. Therefore, in the interest of consumers, it is felt that TRAI should be given powers to impose penalty against such operators," said Mr Nripendra Misra, Chairman, TRAI. Similar powers have been conferred on the telecom regulators in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.

Telecom operators, on the other hand, point out that the Government needs to address issues relating to spectrum crunch, lack of interconnection with BSNL and problems related to setting up cell sites before imposing a penalty

More Stories on : Standards & Benchmarks | Telecommunications

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