Value-added services content subject to regulation: TRAI

September 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's telecom regulator Friday made it mandatory for operators to twice seek confirmation from cell phone users before they subscribe to value-added services (VAS). Under the amended rules, subscribers will be required to first confirm their subscription by pressing any cell phone key other than '*' (star) or '9'.

April 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The telecom watchdog Monday directed service providers to ensure transparency and take the consent of consumers before activating any value-added service (VAS). According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), service providers should provide all details of the VAS offer to customers.

April 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Continuing the telecom growth story, India added 15.87 million telephone connections during March as compared to 13.82 million a month earlier, says the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). With this, the total number of telephone connections reached 429.72 million at the end of March as against 413.85 million in February, a TRAI statement said.

March 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's telecom regulator Tuesday slammed the Department of Telecom (DoT) over its suggestion to charge a higher entry fee on internet service providers (ISPs) for rolling out internet telephony. In a reply to DoT, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said: 'The authority proposes no change in entry fee for ISPs to provide Internet telephony...

March 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's telecom watchdog Tuesday revised the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection Regulation, 2004, making it mandatory for all broadcasters to have reference interconnect offers (RIOs) for their addressable systems. The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection (Fifth Amendment) Regulations, 2009, released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), covers regulatory provisions on issues relating to inter-connection for addressable platforms and registration of inter-connection agreements.

February 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The country's telecom watchdog, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Wednesday said broadcasters should not have any control over distribution operations and vice-versa. 'Any entity having more than 20 percent equity participation in a broadcasting company cannot have more than 20 percent equity in a distributor (operators of cable, DTH, or mobile TV operators) and vice-versa,' TRAI said in a statement.

February 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - You may have to wait a little more longer than expected before you start paying less to access the Internet through a high speed broadband network, as the telecom watchdog is yet to come out with the guidelines on the next generation network (NGN) that will enable telecom operators to offer better services at lower rates. Telecom operators have been asked to submit their comments on NGN by March 10, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said here Wednesday.

February 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The telecom watchdog Tuesday introduced regulations that seek to improve the quality of service provided by cable TV operators in areas where set-top boxes are not mandatory. The regulations will come into effect April 1.

February 15th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Nizam-i-Adl Regulation that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari Monday approved for parts of the country's northwest replaces the appellate jurisdiction of the Peshawar High Court with that of the Federal Shariat Court and will revive the executive magistracy in the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA). Revival of the offices of district magistrates and executive magistrates has also been included in the proposed law that will replace the Nizam-i-Adl Regulation of 1999.

February 15th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Under a new regulation Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has approved for allowing Islamic laws in parts of the country's restive northwest, appeals against sentences handed down will now be heard by the Federal Shariat Court. Earlier, appeals were heard by the Peshawar High Court.

February 5th, 2009 KOLKATA - The telecom sector watchdog is considering penalising telecom operators for below-par services, a top official of the statutory body said here Friday. The penalty could follow a telecom operator's inability to provide voice and other services according to established standards relating to 'quality of service to customers', said Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman Nripendra Misra.

January 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Tuesday issued a consultation paper on next generation networks (NGN), seeking the views of the industry stakeholders on migrating to the new platform. NGN enables telecom operators to offer a range of new services from lower tariffs to high-speed broadband and intensive services including, internet protocol television (IPTV), high definition television (HDTV), videoconferencing, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), instant messaging and e-mail.

January 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Delhi High Court Wednesday warned broadcaster ESPN that it would face criminal proceedings if it failed to comply with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) directions on tariffs charged from direct to home (DTH) operators for its channels. Justice S. Muralidhar granted the sports broadcaster two days to file its amended reference interconnect offer (RIO) before regulator TRAI and posted the matter for further hearing Friday.

January 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Providers of value-added telecom services (VAS) do not require separate licences, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said Wednesday, a point of view that has come as a big relief to many firms. 'The authority does not envisage any separate category of licence for value-added services,' TRAI said in a recommendation paper.

January 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With the telephone subscriber base rising to 374.13 million in November, the congestion levels between one network to another has risen considerably with Bharti Airtel's network emerging the most congested. Between July-September 2008, Airtel had 41 points of inter-connections (POIs) - the highest level of congestion among the various networks.