Trai seeks views on ease of doing biz

Batting for ease of doing business in the telecom sector, the Trai on Monday sought views from stake holders on simplifying procedures in several areas, including granting licence, spectrum allotment and merger and acquisition.

 “The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is of the opinion that various processes that a telecom licensee is required to go through, should be simplified and combined to the extent possible to economise on efforts on part of the telecom service providers as well as the government. Therefore, it is important to identify the bottlenecks, obstacles or hindrances that are making it difficult to do telecom business in India,” said Trai in the statement.

In the Ease of Doing Business, some of the areas could be considered for streamlining procedures, including acquiring unified licence; compliance of various general, commercial conditions; payment of licence fee; release of bank guarantee; assignment of spectrum to the successful bidder; spectrum trading approval and sharing of radio waves.  

The regulator also said it will consider streamlining processes for telecom services using satellite media, including clearances from INSAT Network Operations Control Center, and obtaining clearances from various authorities.

The regulator said the stakeholders are requested to provide inputs to it by April 11, 2017. On receiving inputs, Trai will make recommendations to the government about the need for further simplification of procedures for the telecom sector.

Global SIM cos questioned about service
International SIM card and global calling card companies have caught the attention of Trai over instances of unsatisfactory service quality provided to consumers when they are travelling abroad. Trai, last week, called a meeting of around nine players and asked them to explain the reason for the poor service, which causes huge inconvenience to customers.