The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) to move fast on the recommendations. According to an ET Telecom report, there are a lot of pending decisions that DoT and MIB need to take based on the recommendations given by the TRAI. The sector regulator has warned that if timely actions are not taken, the recommendations it has submitted will become irrelevant.
TRAI Not Very Happy With the Slow Moving Nature of MIB and DoT
In its annual report for FY21, TRAI has said that if the decisions are not taken by the government in a reasonable time, the recommendations lose all relevance. Because technological advancements keep taking place, there is a need to move fast in terms of decision making. Delays on the part of the government end up defeating the whole purpose of TRAI making the recommendations. Even when the recommendations are accepted but implemented years later, their impact gets diminished, said TRAI. The sector regulator has pointed out that the recommendations it made years ago are still awaiting any follow-up action from the government. There are a lot of key recommendations that TRAI has provided to the government around matters such as calculation of the Spectrum Usage Charges (SUC), Traffic Management Practices (TMP), and more. But these recommendations are still awaiting any decision to come from the government. In addition to this, the ministry of information and broadcasting has also made multiple delays in acting on the recommendations provided by TRAI on issues such as digital terrestrial broadcasting (DTT) in India, and interoperability of the Set-Top Boxes (STBs) and more. The government bodies must move at a rapid pace and address the recommendations provided by TRAI so that the sector can move forward. Further, TRAI has asked for a proper feedback mechanism where it is clearly communicated by the government about why it is not accepting the recommendation if that is the case.
