TelecomLive January-2019

Regulatory Watch Telecom LIVE January 2019 43 www.telecomlive.com Regulatory Watch Trai makes MNP process quicker & simpler Trai has revamped mobile number portability (MNP) rules, making the entire process faster and simpler, and prescribed two days t ime l ine f or por t out requests within a service area. Similarly, timeline of four work- ing days has been prescribed for requests for port out from one circle to other and corporate cate- gory. Each “wrongful rejection” of the request for porting will attract penalty of up toRs 10,000. Besides this, other major changes have been incorporated such as the validity of the Unique Porting Code or UPC has been brought down to four days instead of a fortnight prescribed earlier, for all circles except Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and North East, where the validity of the said code remains unchanged. For the cases of corporate port- ing, present limit of 50 numbers in single authorization letter has been enhanced to 100 numbers per authorization letter. Trai's DND app is now avail- able on Apple's store Months after arriving at a mid- dle ground, the 'do not disturb' app of Trai went live on Apple's App Store for its device owners to use the app to flag unwanted calls and messages in the country. It also comes ahead of the Jan 2019 deadline that Trai had set to de- recognise devices that bar instal- lation of theDNDapp. Trai and the US phone maker were at loggerheads for nearly two years over the so-called pri- vacy details while flagging spam calls. Apple had maintained that it would violate its policies if it allowed access to call logs and text messages of users. The app became available on the app store as Trai DND fromNov 30, 2018. Trai extends deadline for implementing pesky calls regulation Trai has extended the deadline for phone companies to imple- ment its new rules to quell the menace of unwanted calls and text messages from Dec 16, 2018 to Feb 28, 2019. Accordingly, telcos will also have till end-Feb 2019 to de-recognise handsets that don't support apps enabling customers to choose the calls and messages theywish to receive. Trai maintains lower cable landing station charges Trai has decided to retain the existing charges that can be levied by cable landing stations for pro- viding international connectivity through submarine cables. Trai capped charges for accessing low capacity STM-1 at Rs 36,000 per annum and Rs 6.25 lakh for high capacity STM-64 per unit capacity at the cable landing station. Trai had prescribed charges in 2012 but the same was quashed by Division Bench of the Madras High Court in Jul 2018 on appeal of Bharti Airtel and Tata Commu- n i c a t i o n s . T h e r e g u l a t o r approached the Supreme Court which on Oct 8, 2018 ordered “…the Authority to re-work the figures on both counts within a period of six weeks,” and disposed of the petition. Trai issues fresh direction against placement of TV channels on landing page Trai has directed all broadcast- ers and distributors of TV channel to refrain from placing any regis- tered TV channel whose rating is being measured on the landing page or the bootup screen with immediate effect. The direction has to be implemented in all cases by Mar 31, 2019. However, in the case of previously entered agree- ments, efforts may be made to implement these directions as soon as possible. Trai had issued a direction dated the Nov 8, 2017 wherein all the broadcast- ers and distributors of television chan- nels were directed to restrain from placing any registered satellite televi- sion channel, whose TV rating is released by TV rating agency, on the landing Logical Channel Number (LCN) or landing channel or boot up screen. This direction was challenged before the TDSAT which stayed the implementation of the direction. Sub- sequently, Trai repealed the aforemen- tioned direction with immediate effect, after obtaining the permission of the tribunal. Trai has issued fresh direction after consultations with all the stake- holders. Trai issues consultation paper to review TV audience measure- ment Trai has released a consultation paper on the review of television audi- ence measurement and ratings in India. Several concerns relating to