NEW DELHI : Sector watchdog TRAI will set inter-connection charges for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls once the Department of Telecom (DoT) amends the relevant clause of the Unified Licence framework.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended amending the licence provision for inter-connection at the IP level, which would facilitate Internet-based calls, alternatively known as VoIP calls.
A telecom company is required to pay inter-connection charges when its subscriber makes a call to one on another network. The charge gets added up in the final price, which the subscriber has to pay.
Currently, there are inter-connection charges for VoIP calls as the licence did not have a clause for inter-connection at IP level.
“How can we determine charges till the time licence is not amended? When this licence condition is accepted… We will determine the inter-connection charges for the IP-based network,” a senior TRAI official said.
He added that Trai has only recommended to amend, and not regulate, the licence provision.
“It’s Trai’s domain to determine charges. However, till the time DoT accepts the proposition, we can’t determine the charges,” the official explained.
Proposing to amend the licence, Trai has said there is no explicit clause relating to inter-connection at the IP level in the existing licence, which necessitates insertion of such a clause.
Since IP-based networks, Trai said, continue to proliferate and traditional circuit switch networks are gradually being phased out, there exists the need to facilitate inter-connection. (AGENCIES)
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