Question : Interconnection Norms

(a) whether the Reliance Jio has launched new tele services with free data and voice calls;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto in regard to violation of any norms;

(c) whether complaints have been received against other Telecom Service Providers (TSP) for not allowing inter-connectivity to Reliance Jio;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the action taken and penalties imposed on some TSPs for such violation, TSPs-wise;

(e) whether telecom companies have demanded for an increase in the fee that they charge from service providers to entertain its calls on their networks; and

(f) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) & (b) Madam, M/s Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) has launched its telecom services on 5th September 2016 and has filed 3 prepaid and 7 post-paid tariff plans with the Telecom Regulator, TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India). Special benefits of free local and STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialing) voice calls and SMS (Short Messaging Service) in home and national roaming (maximum 100 SMS per day) and up to 4GB (Giga Byte) 4G (Generation) LTE (Long Term Evolution) data under these plans are being offered by M/s RJIL as ''promotional offer'' till 3rd December 2016 and the benefits of which are valid till 31.12.2016.On representations received from the industry, the matter of IUC (Interconnection Usage Charge) compliance of the plans was examined in the context of Telecom Tariff Order (30thAmendment) 1999. After examination of the matter, it was concluded by TRAI that the tariffs filed are not IUC non-compliant, predatory and discriminatory at present.

(c) & (d) M/s RJIL has represented to the TRAI as well as Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that some TSPs are not providing adequate POI, which is leading to congestion, call failures in RJIL’s network and is severely hampering their services and requested to direct the concerned TSPs to provide requisite number of additional POIs to remove congestion.
TRAI has taken several steps to ensure adequacy of POIs like holding meetings with the TSPs, issue of Show Cause Notices, Direction, and Recommendations etc.
In the meeting with CMD (Chairman & Managing Director)/CEO (Chief Executive Officer)of the TSPs held on 08.11.2016, the Government has directed the TSPs to resolve the issues within the existing regulatory framework.
(e) & (f) Termination charges are the charges payable by an access provider, whose subscriber originates the call, to the access provider in whose network the call terminates. In a calling-party-pays (CPP) regime, the party originating a call pays for the call to his access provider and the calling party’s access provider usually pays termination charge to the called party’s access provider to cover the interconnection/ network usage cost. The present regulatory regime for network interconnection prescribes for carriage and termination charges payable to respective operators generally referred to as Interconnection Usage Charges (IUC). To redress the concern of the Telecom operators as to how voice calls travelling on public internet should be treated from the perspective of termination charges, applicable termination charge for calls terminating into Internet telephony network and to address the representations from several International Long Distance Operators (ILDOs)to set a floor for International carriage charge/ International settlement rate, TRAI has already initiated a consultation process on 5th August 2016 for review of IUC. Generally, a comprehensive regulatory review exercise in TRAI takes six to nine months’ time to complete and thereafter TRAI notifies Regulation.

**********