The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday said it will “very soon” come out with recommendations on various subjects such as net neutrality, data ownership privacy and security in the telecom sector.

“A couple of consultations are in the final stage — net neutrality, consultation on tariff principles and may be one or two more. We are working on them…I can’t give you the exact date, but we will be coming out with them very soon,” RS Sharma, Chairman, TRAI, told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

Speaking on the sidelines of ‘i-Bharat 2017’ organised by Ficci, in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and IT, Sharma said net neutrality is being framed keeping in mind the Indian market dynamics, and once the recommendations are prepared, the government will have a final say.

He said the Central committee on data protection may consider the recommendations emerging from data privacy, ownership and security consultations, apart from standalone suggestions for the telecom sector.

Sharma said certain recommendations were taking time because the stakeholders had been asking for more time for their comments to the consultation papers. However, that will not be a practice and the authority will try to make things quicker.

“We will accommodate as many stakeholders as possible in terms of giving them time and opportunity to file their inputs and comments. But that does not mean we will continue to give indefinite time.”

Internet telephony

Asked on who would benefit from TRAI’s recent recommendations on internet telephony, Sharma said “consumers and operators” because customers will have the opportunity to make internet calls through a Wi-Fi network, where a particular network’s signal may be weak.

He also said the recommendations were not meant to bring apps such as WhatsApp or Viber into the purview of the licence regime, but to bring in licensed players to enhance customer experience.

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