TelecomLive April 2024

Trai CP on multiple connectivity to Access Service VNOs 54 TelecomLIVE April 2024 l i c e n s e e ' s b u s i n e s s growth gets restricted. c. However, there may be stipulation that in any one LDCA or SDCA the VNO access licensee will be allowed to connect with o n e w i r e l i n e a c c e s s service provider NSO, but over the LSA it may be allowed to VNO to con- nect with anotherNSO. d. NSO not having licenses e.g. ILDO, shall have e i t he r r e s t r i c t i on o f options to provide ser- vices and also non com- p e t i n g c omme r c i a l s making UL VNO licensee loose deals, as NSOs arrangement with TSP may not be competitive. e. Multiple NSO option with UL VNO licensee shall provide ability to have b e t t e r / c omp e t i t i v e commercials. ¦ In view of UL VNO Licensee with authorisation for taking offering innovative services in 4G/5G technologies for the overall health of the sector. IshanNetsol ¦ UL VNO Licensee holding Access service authorisation should be permitted to take connectivity in a LSA for providing wireline access service from multiple NSOs for reasonsmentioned below: a. Current limitation of single NSO connectivity, restricts the services being offered by NSO e.g. i f NSO doe sn ' t hav e mobility business, doesn't have spectrum, there is no way UL VNO can provide these services. b. I n c a s e s o f o f f e r i ng services as VNO, commer- cials provided by NSO becomes constraints for the UL VNO licensee, as NSO can offer at discount beyond the commercials agreed with UL VNO, and hence UL VNO Access VNOAI ¦ VNOAI after going through the comments of all the stakeholders has come to the conclusion that there is an urgent need to re-examine whole of the VNO wireless single parenting issue based upon the experience of last 8 years of VNO regime. Also, in c a s e t he r e i s a ne ed t o incentivize the sector then authority should consider all the options to make VNO Mobile sector take off. ¦ Detailed separate consulta- tions can be done with all the stakeholders based upon the experience of last 8 years of VNO regime tomake the India telecom sector really competi- tive for the benefit of consum- ers. ¦ VNOAI support the view of some of the stakeholders in the current CP that there is need to incentivize NSOs during spectrum sale or otherwise to parent the VNOs t o augur the marke t by Abstracts of the Counter-Comments NSO in India is ready to provide the network access to VNOs. It clearly shows that there is a market failure as since last 8 years no MVNO could start its services in India. It further added that Trai needs to comprehensively examine how globally the MVNO are flourishing day by day and consumers are get- ting benefited as they have got choice of niche services as per their requirements. In terms of wireless single parenting, the association said it has got huge challenges due to which even after 8 years of DOT UL-VNO Licensing Guidelines, no VNO could start its Mobile services with any of the present TSPs (NSO). Many of the TSPs have responded in the CP that there is no incentive for current TSPs to become NSO of any VNO for the wireless (MVNO) services. Also, as the VNOs are not able to start mobile services with single parent thus thinking of dual parenting for wireline services is not desirable. Whereas, Ishan Netsol, a cate- gory A ISP and UL VNO Access service provider in Gujarat, said it is interested to take more licenses in various other circles. The allow- ing of the multi-parenting of VNO withmultipleNSOs in the LSA shall benefit new entrants, it will boost business of VNOs and make their business viable in comparison to current situation. It will also facili- tate the expansion of UL VNO access authorization to the enter- prise segment, smaller cities, and rural areas. Also, in addition to regulatory restriction, there are market restrictions in place by mutual agreement between NSO and VNO, as there is no regulatory mandate for providing connectivity to the VNOs. The current limitation on multi-parenting doesn't seem to support regulatory neutrality, espe- cially concerning the growth of UL VNO in India. to any number of NSOs within the same LSA provided UL-VNO (AS) maintain separate records and steps to ensure appropriate report- ing of revenue and disclosures to end customers. Talking about the benefit it fur- ther added that flexibility for UL- VNO licensee will also ensure less dependency for VNO on a single NSO in the LSA. Allowing UL-VNO licensee to take network service from multiple NSOs in a same LSA will promote healthy competition in the access service market and will encourage innovation in ser- vices, billing, service delivery & service quality which will result in more choice and benefits to end customers. In counter response to the com- ments by the telecomproviders, the association of Virtual Network Operators Association of India (VNOAI) said that UL-VNO Access Service License holders are not able to start the mobile services as no