2 weeks Ago By Kamya Pandey
Explainer Briefly Slides The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a consultation paper seeking inputs on the terms and conditions for network authorisation under the Telecommunication Act, 2023. This comes after in June this year, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) sent a reference to the regulator seeking recommendations on the same. Further, it sent another reference in July to the regulator asking it to consider that: Regulating IXPs and CDNs: TRAI back in 2022 recommended bringing CDNs under an authorisation framework.
In the same set of recommendations, it has also suggested that the government should create a separate authorisation for IXPs under the unified license, where the terms and conditions are significantly less stringent than those currently in place under the Internet Service Provider (ISP) license. For context, the DoT currently holds that IXPs should obtain an ISP license in India since they provide a framework for ISPs to exchange traffic with each other, according to Ikigai Law . However, it is worth noting here that India’s national Internet exchange—National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)— does not have an ISP license.
Since DoT is yet to implement TRAI’s 2022 recommendations, the regulator says that it is seeking fresh inputs about the two service authorisations. Pre-existing inputs on IXP and CDN authorisation: It is important to mention here that prior to this paper, the authority carried out a consultation process to examine service authorisation frameworks under the Telecom Act. Even during this process, TRAI looked at the need for authorisation mandates for Content Delivery networks (CDNs), and internet exchange points (IXPs).
This saw pushback from organisations like NASSCOM and the Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) who argued that neither of these services has witnessed any market failure nor do they have any entry barriers to warrant regulation. Telecom companies Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea (Vi) also argued the same, stating that the regulator should allow these services to grow organically. The only major player to argue for CDN and IXP regulation was Airtel.
It mentioned that the government should increase the number of IXPs to optimize the access cost for ISPs. It also urged that the regulator should impose content-blocking requirements on CDNs instead of telcos and also said that the government should mandate CDN providers to set up their services in tier 2 and tier 3 cities based on defined criteria such as quantum of traffic. While the original consultation paper mentioned IXPs and CDNs, the final recommendations didn’t , as such, this new network authorisation consultation could give us further insight into the regulator’s perspective towards these services.
Financial conditions for CDN and IXP authorisation: In its 2022 recommendations, TRAI had suggested no financial conditions for CDN authorisations. On the other hand, it argued that IXP should have: Authorisation for cloud-based telecommunication services: TRAI notes that third-party cloud-based telecommunication services can play an important role in virtualising telecom networks, improving network resilience, and shortening the time it takes for telecom services to reach the market. These cloud-based telecom services can also facilitate enhanced services such as UCaaS and CPaaS.
Through its September recommendations , TRAI suggested that the government should allow authorised entities to lease or hire telecom services from cloud service providers. Such services should ensure that they set up their cloud in India. Additionally, it will be considered part of the authorized entity’s network.
As a part of its current consultation, TRAI seeks input on the need for cloud-based telecom authorisation for establishing, operating, maintaining, or expanding cloud-hosted telecommunication networks. Key questions for consultation: The comments on this consultation paper are due 12 November and counter comments are due by 19 November. Also read:.
