Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Aug 16, 2008
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Aug 16, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio |
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Regulatory Bodies & Rulings Info-Tech - Telecommunications
GSM players say the regulator did not give them an opportunity to present their case before issuing the notice. Our Bureau New Delhi, Aug 15 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has once again rejected GSM operators’ stand on offering links to Reliance Communication and has issued a fresh deadline of August 21 for complying with its orders. The telecom regulator has earlier asked all the GSM players to provide links to RCom’s GSM network. The existing GSM players had refused to offer interconnection to Reliance on the grounds that the company had to negotiate fresh commercial terms. GSM operators had said the existing interconnect agreement with Reliance was limited to providing links for its CDMA network. They had said that since RCom’s GSM service was a new network,the terms of the interconnection had to be renegotiated. Without interconnection, Reliance Communications will not be able to start commercial services as it means that a Reliance GSM subscriber would not be able to call any of the 200 million GSM subscribers belonging to the existing operators across the country. RCom had recently announced a soft launch of its GSM services in Delhi for some of its employees. Rejecting the GSM operators’ stance, the telecom regulator has issued notices to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar, Idea Cellular and BSNL to provide links to RCom. The telecom regulator said Rcom’s GSM service was part of its existing licence and therefore links have to be provided as per current laws governing interconnection. ‘Misplaced intervention’GSM operators said TRAI’s intervention in the case was misplaced because interconnection terms were supposed to be negotiated mutually between two operators. They said even if the TRAI had to step in, it had to follow a process before issuing deadlines and notices to comply with orders. GSM players said the telecom regulator had not given them an opportunity to present their case before issuing the notice. “The Authority in its draft Reference Interconnect Order has also provided for a review of the Interconnect Agreement every time there is a material change in license conditions. Clearly, the permission to a CDMA licensee to set up a new GSM network is a material change in licensing conditions and necessitates a re-negotiation of the interconnection agreements,” the Cellular Operators Association of India, said. GSM operators refuse links to RCom TRAI orders GSM players to link up with RCom Spectrum for RCom subject to court’s final order: HC More Stories on : Regulatory Bodies & Rulings | Telecommunications | Reliance Communications Ltd
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