Comments
The Department of Telecom is looking to clip the telecom regulator’s powers by taking away some key functions. This includes the power to enforce the terms and conditions of the licences and monitor quality of service parameters.
In an internal meeting of top DoT officers, it was discussed that since the Department was already entrusted with the task of enforcing licence conditions there was no need for another authority.
“Enforcement of licence and terms and conditions should be done by one organisation. Since the terms and conditions are issued by the licensor and agreement is entered with the telecom service providers by the licensor, the DoT should carry out this task,” an internal DoT note stated.
DoT sources said TRAI should be entrusted with the task, which involve study of issues in detail that require consultation with the stakeholders so that policy formulation is done by DoT.
“The TRAI Act mentions enforcement as part of the regulator’s job but it may have been included in 1997 because then the DoT itself was a service provider,” the official said. The DoT and TRAI have been at loggerheads for a while now.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.