Question : CABLE LANDING CHARGES

(a) whether cable landing fee charged in India is higher in comparison to the other countries in the world;

(b) if so, the comparative details thereof,country-wise including Singapore;

(c) whether the said fee is charged by Indian companies from foreign companies;

(d) if so, the details of these companies along with the fee charged by them annually;

(e) whether the excess charging of the said fee is ultimately borne by the Indian telecom consumers; and

(f) if so, the action taken by the Government to protect the interest of the consumers?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI MILIND DEORA)

(a) & (b) Madam, As per the existing regulations namely ‘International Telecommunications Access to Essential Facilities at Cable Landing Stations Regulations, 2007’ dated 07.06.2007, the owners of cable landing stations are required to submit the Access Facilitation Charges (may also be termed as cable landing fee) for cable landing stations to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for approval. TRAI, after scrutiny, approves these charges. The presently applicable access facilitation charges to the cable landing stations in India are enclosed as Annexure I.

TRAI has not obtained any information on cable landing fee directly from the other countries in the world. However, during the pre-consultation process initiated by TRAI for review of charges of Cable Landing Station (CLS), some of the service providers have provided information on cable landing fee applicable in other countries to TRAI. Summary of the information provided by the service providers is enclosed as Annexure II.

(c) & (d) The cable landing fee is not charged by Indian companies from foreign companies. As per ‘International Telecommunications Access to Essential Facilities at Cable Landing Stations Regulations, 2007’, the Access Facilitation Charges (cable landing fee) are paid by the eligible Indian International Telecommunication Entities such as International Long Distance Operators and Internet Service Providers to the owners of Cable Landing Stations to access the capacity on the submarine cable. The details are already given at Annexure I.

(e) & (f) The access to cable landing stations facilitates availability of international bandwidth on submarine cables which is primarily used by IT-BPO (Information Technology - Business Process Outsourcing) and KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) firms in India.

In order to review these charges, TRAI has already issued a Consultation Paper on ‘Access Facilitation Charges and Co-location Charges at Cable Landing Stations’ on 22.03.2012.