The new decision is part of recommendations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on ‘Closure of Access Services’ that were cleared by the Telecom Commission
In the wake of sudden closing of services by a few telecom operators recently affecting the subscribers, the Government came up with a recommendation of making it mandatory for telecom operators to at least give notice 30 days in advance to the subscribers before the closure of their services.
The new decision is part of recommendations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on ‘Closure of Access Services’ that were cleared by the Telecom Commission in its meeting on Wednesday.
Consumers interest
Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan told journalists that it was decided that the consumers have to be given a notice of 30 days before the shutdown of a service and the TRAI and licensor should be informed 60 calendar days in advance. Before that there was no time limit.
This was decided from the point of view of ease of doing business and keeping in mind the interest of customers that they are not put to great difficulty, she stated.
After the approval of recommendations, the consumer would also not require to port his mobile number on the same service network if a specific technology is shutdown. However, the subscriber needs to port his number if the entire services of a telecom operator are closed down.
For telecom operator’s convenience, the commission approved that in case the service provider wants to partly shut down its services, there is no need to surrender the entire licence.
“Licencee can be permitted to discontinue the services without the need to surrender the licence. The UAS licence will be amended to that effect,” Sundararajan said.
To enhance ease of doing business
The commission, in the meeting, has also decided that if a telecom service provider wants to trade its spectrum for mobile services, then the company will need to inform the Department of Telecom (DoT) and TRAI 45 days prior to the actual date of transaction for partial sale. For complete sale of radiowaves, the telecom operator has to inform the DoT and TRAI 60 days in advance.
The DoT is required to revert within 15 days in case of transaction for partial sale and 21 days in case of complete sale, to further improve ease of doing business, said the Telecom Secretary.
