Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Limited and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited have opposed a proposal to allow internet service providers (ISPs) to offer dedicated private and high-speed internet connectivity to enterprises, arguing that it could undermine regulatory parity and distort competition.
The operators have also sought tariff forbearance for dedicated leased circuits (DLCs), stating that market forces should determine pricing for such services. They argued that newer technologies such as dense wavelength division multiplexing, ethernet-over-fibre and software-defined wide area network have improved network capabilities but do not change the case for tariff forbearance.
According to the telcos, since market forces are functioning effectively, the regulator should either retain the current tariff ceiling or move to a complete forbearance regime for DLC pricing.
The Draft Telecommunications (Authorisation for Provision of Main Telecommunication Services) Rules, 2025, released on September 5, 2025, propose allowing ISPs to provide DLC services. In a consultation paper issued on January 23, 2026, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said that once the new rules are notified, ISPs may be allowed to build their own infrastructure, lease or purchase dark fibre from infrastructure providers or digital connectivity infrastructure providers, and offer it as managed DLC services.
Currently, access service providers and national long-distance licensees are permitted to offer leased circuits within their respective service areas. In contrast, ISP licensees are not allowed to provide virtual private networks (VPN) or closed user group services to subscribers.
TRAI had sought stakeholder views on revising the ceiling tariffs for DLCs, which were last set more than a decade ago through the 57th and 58th amendments to the Telecommunication Tariff Order in July-August 2014. At that time, fixed maximum tariffs were prescribed for certain capacities such as 2 Mbps, 45 Mbps (DS-3), 155 Mbps (STM-1) and 622 Mbps (STM-4), while smaller capacities and newer VPN-based circuits were kept under tariff forbearance.
Airtel said that a uniform regulated tariff structure cannot account for customised network design, hardware redundancy, configuration requirements, site-specific service level agreements and financial exposure linked to performance guarantees.
Meanwhile, Vi also noted that the 2014 tariff framework kept VPN services under forbearance and warned that bringing them under regulation could discourage investments in next-generation network technologies.
