The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a consultation paper focused on increasing the business scope of infrastructure providers. The purpose of the paper is to seek the views of stakeholders on enhancement of the scope of infrastructure providers category-I (IP-I) registration for promoting and incentivising the deployment of common, sharable passive as well as active infrastructure.
The paper mentions that at present, IP-Is provide various assets including dark fibre, right of way, duct space and tower on lease/ rent out/ sell basis to licensees of telecom services on mutually agreed terms and conditions. As IP-Is hold utmost significance in making the telecom service affordable and also have expertise and experience in rolling out telecom infrastructure in the country, enhancing the scope of their registration could play a vital role in achieving the objective of the National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 (NDCP 2018).
The consultation process has been initiated by the authorities to make recommendations to the government for the encouragement and facilitation of sharing of passive as well as active infrastructure as envisaged in the NDCP-2018.
The TRAI has sought written comments from stakeholders by September 16, 2019 and counter-comments by September 9, 2019.
