The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has allowed a six-week extension to telcos for filing their monthly and quarterly reports, as a part of regulatory compliance.
The move comes in the wake of national lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Recently, operators had urged the regulator to defer the filing of mandatory monthly and quarterly reports by at least by six weeks.
The Cellular Operators Association of India in its recent letter to TRAI had demanded the same. As per COAI, regular day-to-day operations of telecom service operators have been impacted with minimal staff manning the requirements. Further, COAI added that in the present crisis, there is a significant strain on the human resources of the operators as they are grappling with operational issues arising from the COVID-19 outbreak on one hand, while also trying to fulfil the licensing compliance on the other hand.
As per the industry body, it is extremely difficult for its members to submit various monthly and quarterly reports on the due date as per the TRAI requirements as most of these reports require circle-wise compilation, which in the current environment, would not be possible.
Meanwhile, TRAI has asked Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to extend the validity of prepaid users for ensuring uninterrupted voice and data services amid lockdown.
As per TRAI, lockdown may adversely affect the working of customer service centres/point of sale locations even after telecom services coming under essential services.
