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Thomas K. Thomas

`Make sharing of undersea cable landing stations mandatory'

New Delhi , Dec 12

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has once again asked the Department of Telecom to first amend the international long distance licence to make it mandatory for operators to share undersea cable landing stations, before the telecom regulator can suggest terms and conditions.

DoT had asked TRAI to work out the modalities for operators to share their cable landing stations with other operators without any discrimination. TRAI has, however, replied that the licence of the ILD operators needs to be changed first before it can recommend the details. "The key objective to seek the said amendments in advance is to ensure that terms and conditions as finalised by the TRAI are in harmony with the terms and conditions of the licence agreement," a TRAI letter to DoT said.

The telecom regulator said that since DoT had accepted the primary recommendation to make sharing of cable landing stations mandatory, it should be reflected in the licence agreement.

Consultation paper

TRAI also said it would issue a consultation paper to discuss the modalities on allowing resale of international bandwidth. "The process would be completed in two months," said a TRAI letter dated December 6.

TRAI had in November asked DoT to make the amendments on an urgent basis to which the Government responded by asking the telecom regulator to work out the terms and conditions.

TRAI has pointed out that non-access to cable landing stations was stifling the growth of the ILD segment. Cable landing station is the physical place where undersea cables entering the land is connected to the domestic telecom infrastructure. As of now Tata-managed VSNL controls most of the cable landing stations in the country. Reliance Communications and Bharti also have a cable landing station each. VSNL, meanwhile, said that it has decided to open up its landing station to other operators.

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TRAI for mandatory sharing of landing stations
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TRAI seeks changes in ILD licence norms

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