Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has proposed new recommendations for improving ease of doing business.
For timely implementation of these proposals concerns with regulatory structure need to be addressed.
What business bottle necks are faced by telecom players?
Majority of the existing policies, guidelines and regulations were made during 90s, which were till not updated.
Telecom operators need licences to import network equipment,this is merely to ensure that the department of telecom is informed of the details of imported equipment for security reasons.
This is being a major bottleneck as getting a licence takes up to 1-2 months.
Approvals for merger and acquisition deals in the sector take a lot of time even after the companies involved have completed all the formalities.
What are the higlights of the recommendations?
TRAI has identified 12 areas where the existing rules need to be changed.
It includes streamlining the process for imposing penalties on telecom companies and a fixed time-frame for merger and acquisition deals.
Licenses for imported equipments now be easily done by asking the operators to submit periodic reports on imported equipment.
These changes will help telecom operators run their businesses more efficiently.
What are the concerns with regulatory structure?
The recommendations of TRAI would require a major overhaul of the existing regulatory structure.
TRAI has only a recommendatory role with some powers to enforce licence terms and conditions.
There are multiple bodies within the telecom department that are responsible for these activities and often there is lack of coordination between them.
The major complication in the structure is that licensing power is with DoT while dispute settlement power is with the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal.
This division of power has led to complications with one arm not agreeing with the other on several occasions.
What measures need to be taken?
Over the years, governments have discussed the Communications Convergence Bill which envisages the creation of a ‘super regulator’ for the telecom and broadcasting sectors.
The main aim was to establish a single regulatory and licensing authority with defined powers, procedures and functions and an appellate tribunal, these proposals needs to be implemented.
