Lok Sabha Question No. 2424 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-11-30
Subject: Interconnection Norms
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: KULAMANI SAMAL, PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY, ELUMALAI VELLAIGOUNDER, V. SATHYABAMA, VIRENDER KASHYAP

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2424 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30 TH  NOVEMBER, 2016

## INTERCONNECTION NORMS

2424.  DR. KULAMANI SAMAL:

SHRI PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY: SHRI V. ELUMALAI: SHRIMATI V. SATHYA BAMA: SHRI VIRENDER KASHYAP:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (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?

## ANSWER

## 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 5 th 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  3 rd 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 (30 th Amendment) 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  5 th 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.

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