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Our Bureau

New Delhi , Dec.16

IN a bid to bring in more competition in the international bandwidth segment, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), on Friday, announced a number of initiatives including permitting reselling of bandwidth by 2007 and allowing access to existing cable landing stations in the country for cable systems owned by all licensed operators.

TRAI has also said that international cable carriers, who do not hold an international long distance (ILD) license in India, should be licensed to provide international bandwidth to ILD operators only. This category could be called International Infrastructure Provider (IIP) and there will be no entry fee or revenue share for this category except a nominal annual charge to be levied by Government.

"The Authority is of the view that introduction of resale would definitely bring in more competition in the international private leased circuit (IPLC) segment. As per NTP'99, resale in ILD sector is not to be permitted till the year 2004. Keeping in view the need to augment the investment in infrastructure and policy provision, it is recommended that introduction of resale would be appropriate only after a period of 5 years of opening up of ILD sector i.e. with effect from February 2007," said the TRAI recommendation paper on promotion of competition in IPLC segment.

While these recommendations will improve availability of cheap bandwidth in the country, it may have a negative impact on Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd's revenues being the dominant player in this segment. At the moment, only VSNL (controls 75 per cent of the IPLC market) and Bharti (has 17 per cent share) have the landing station in the country making it difficult for other operators to freely sell bandwidth. TRAI said that growth of competition in the international bandwidth segment is being hampered by the absence of mandated equal access to cable landing stations. The move to allow landing of submarine cables owned by licensed operators will avoid unnecessary expenditure and delay in setting up of new cable landing stations.

The TRAI move is aimed at bringing relief to bandwidth users like software exporters, BPO units, banks and other financial services companies, Internet Service Providers. Both VSNL and Bharti have opposed the TRAI decisions.

More Stories on : Regulatory Bodies & Rulings | Broadband

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