The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has clarified its stance on the issue of fixed wireless service.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has clarified its stance on the issue of fixed wireless service. It has stated that a fixed wireless telephone (FWT) service used outside its place of registration must pay the access deficit and interconnect charges of WLL mobile service. The responsibility to ensure that FWTs are not used outside the premises of the subscriber rests with the operator.

It has directed fixed wireless operators to install a separate numbering plan to identify and confine these services to the subscriber premises. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had earlier asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to initiate strict measures to ensure that fixed wireless services are confined to the subscriber premises. The COAI believed that despite TRAI’s directive restricting FWT services to a fixed address only, these services were being used seamlessly through the service area.

It added that compliance should be sought on whether these services were locked to the particular radio frequency sector of the base station in which the FWT is located.