Honest 836 Report post Posted June 16, 2008 DoT allows operators to enter into pact for intra-circle roaming 16 Jun, 2008, 1938 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Government has allowed private mobile operators to enter into mutual agreements for intra- circle roaming with each other, a move that will help new players who are yet to roll out their networks and those who do not have licence in a particular service area. The Department of Telecom circular said: "A licensee may enter into mutual commercial agreements for intra-service area roaming facilities with other cellular operators." Industry sources said the measure may have been undertaken to benefit new operators with no telecom experience or infrastructure of their own or are in the process of rolling out their own networks. The DoT decision would not, however, change the mandatory network roll out of 60 per cent in the first year but would give them a chance to offer their customers intra-circle roaming by allowing them to tie-up with other operators. The circular said roaming arrangements are normally entered into by access service providers for service area for which they do not have licence to provide service. Therefore, so far the request for mandatory roaming facilities among the players have not been agreed to. However there is no bar in entering into roaming agreements subject to the mutual commercial agreements by various service providers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honest 836 Report post Posted August 5, 2008 TRAI not happy with DoT's intra-circle roaming move 5 Aug, 2008, 2123 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator TRAI has questioned the government's move to allow roaming within a circle, saying it may affect the quality of services of existing players, in yet another instance of difference of views with the Communications Ministry. In a letter to Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura, TRAI Chairman Nripendra Misra said: "in case of intra service area (within a state) roaming, if the new service providers start their services without any/limited infrastructure, then the network in which its subscribers will roam, will show an artificial and temporary upswing." "This will create a situation where the spectrum with the new service providers will be lying unused while spectrum of the service provider whose network has been used for roaming facility will be heavily used. This may affect the quality of service and may also require a re-look at the present spectrum allocation methodology." Surprisingly, TRAI uploaded the letter to DoT, written last month, on its website on Tuesday. The telecom regulator said national roaming, ensures a level playing field for the new service provider and encourages fair competition between all the service providers, both new and existing. This facility was permitted for bridging the infrastructure gaps in the network of the service providers. Earlier, TRAI had objected to entry of foreign players in the 3G mobile telephony segment, saying this would delay the roll-out process as also hit affordability of the service. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
