Dot Has Jurisdiction Over Adc: Govt

[abhay 0]

DoT has jurisdiction over ADC: Govt

Department of telecom has the right to stake claim on the jurisdiction of access deficit charge as DoT is responsible for formulating and implementing telecom policies in the country to provide affordable communications and ADC is a key instrument for doing that, Lok Sabha was informed .

Access to telecommunications is of utmost importance for achieving social and economic goals. The Access Deficit Charge arises out of tariff rebalancing exercise for providing affordable communications. DoT is responsible for formulation and implementation of telecom policies in the country, Minister of State for IT & Telecom Shakeel Ahmad told Lok Sabha in a written reply.

Replying to another query he said DoT had not freezed the powers of Trai on the issue of ADC rather has sought comments of the telecom regulator for issuing directions on the matter of policy with respect to ADC.

Ahamd also stated there is no dispute between Trai and DoT (on ADC) and it was seeking comments on the policy issues as per provisions of Trai Act. "The government proposes to form opinion on the basis of the response of Trai while formulating the policy guidelines, Ahmad said.

"Access Deficit Charge as percentage of revenue share will address some of incongruities of the present regime", he said. As per an Interconnect order of Trai in 2003, ADC should be phased out in three to five years.

Replying to a query on Trai role on Interconnection, the minister said the issue relating to regulation of interconnection is sub-judice at present and all operators are expected to provide interconnection agreement with each other.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1307105.cms

BSNL questions Trai's jurisdiction on interconnection

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has questioned telecom regulator Trai's powers and jurisdiction in matters relating to interconnection between the PSU and other private service providers.

It has also challenged Trai's show cause notice, which had alleged that BSNL did not adhere to the telecom regulator's directions, in TDSAT.

"The show cause notice is without jurisdiction, contrary to law and contrary to orders passed by Tdsat apart from being otherwise arbitrary, irrational and unsustainable," said BSNL in its petition and urged the tribunal to set aside Trai's show cause notice.

Interconnection is considered to be crucial for providing telecom services and Trai has issued guidelines from time to time to enable two operators to sign interconnection agreements amicably.

BSNL had published its Reference Interconnection Order (RIO) within time prescribed by TDSAT with the changes as mutually agreed between the parties and adjudicated by the tribunal and same cannot be alleged to be in violation of any regulations of Trai, BSNL said.

man these people are after TRAI like anything

doosron ko aacha kaam karte dhek hi nahin sakte yeh log

Edited November 24, 2005 by abhay

[SexyGurl 0]

Yup ... DoT should keep it's hands off.

[linuxguy 0]

yeah, DoT and Dayanidhi Maran has started to become a pain in the A$$. Time for a change of government! I want NDA back! or atleast Maran replaced by a suitable candidate viz. ME (or SexyGurl)!

[Chirag 5]

Your phone bill will soon be much less

Rediff.com | November 29, 2005 16:47 IST

Further telecom tariff reduction is on the anvil as department of telecom is in the process of issuing direction to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to come out with the revenue-share based access deficit charge.

"The government will soon ask TRAI to make a shift in its policy decision, so that we can have ADC by revenue share… if we make ADC a revenue-share, lot of problems will disappear," Dayandhi Maran, Minister of Telecommunications said at the India Economic Summit.

Access deficit charge, a levy on private players for compensating BSNL for its unprofitable operations is currently collected on per call basis and is flawed with pushing call rates and lacking transparency as it is applied on per call basis.

ADC component on incoming ISD calls, which accounts for nearly Rs 2000 crore (Rs 20 billion) of the total Rs 5000 crore (Rs 50 billion) to BSNL, would be a major issue to tackle in the revenue-share based ADC.

Depending upon the revenue-share percentage, the ADC amount may fall or remain static at the Rs 5000 crore level.

TRAI in its consultation paper on ADC had mooted a shift to revenue-share based ADC last year and BSNL had opposed such a move fearing reduction in amount.

But revenue-share as a method of collection will lead to lesser impact of the levy on call charges as it will be calculated on the total revenue than on every call at present.

The government has already made its intention clear on the jurisdiction over ADC saying, "Department of telecom has the right to stake claim on the jurisdiction of ADC as DoT is responsible formulating and implementing telecom policies in the country to provide affordable communications and ADC is a key instrument for doing that".

[linuxguy 0]

Just tell me this. Will it make Orange give me local calls @ 50p to any telephone? And messages at 25p? And at zero rental of Rs.100-200??