Telecom companies have submitted differing views in response to a consultation paper released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), titled “Introduction of Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Provider (DCIP) Authorisation under Unified Licence (UL)”. While Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are against the proposal of providing separate authorisation to DCIPs under the UL, Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) has argued in favour of the same.
The stakeholders presented their views during an open house discussion organised by TRAI on the matter. According to Jio and Airtel, the current regime is working well wherein infrastructure creation is the responsibility of the licensee. The creation of another category of infrastructure provider under a UL regime will create confusion. During the open house, a Jio representative said that creation of infrastructure is the implicit responsibility of a service licensee. Further, the authority through its recommendations on “Enabling Unbundling of Different Layers through Differential Licensing” dated August 19, 2023 had already recommended a network later licensed entity access network provider that would provide standalone network services to virtual network operators and telecom service providers (TSPs). As per the telco, the issue has already been addressed by TRAI and there is no need for any DCIP authorisation as it will create confusion.
Meanwhile, an Airtel representative informed that the company has been rolling out 5G network without taking any assistance from infrastructure providers. The company believes that there is no need for creating a new separate DCIP authorisation as it may pose several risks including impact on customers, rollout etc.
However, Vi said that such a category of providers could be created and these entities should be allowed to offer services only to licensed service providers.
