The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reportedly issued a show-cause notice to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) for not complying with the Telecommunication Interconnection Regulation 2018.
The regulations cover a framework that involves network connection arrangements between telcos for easy connectivity of calls and SMSes to their consumers, bank guarantees by telcos which are net payable to others in a particular circle, and the provision of point of interconnections (PoIs) for call/SMS traffic management.
According to industry sources, BSNL has failed to give bank guarantees to telecom operators such as Vodafone Idea Limited, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio for the circles where it is net payable. Further, the state-owned operator has also not even implemented the required ports at PoIs for facilitating outgoing traffic of telcos.
As per the regulations, the financial penalty in the case of non-compliance could be Rs 100,000 per day per service area for each non-compliance. It could also go up to Rs 10 billion for BSNL since it has not complied with the regulations from the beginning.
Another violation by BSNL with regard to the regulations is that the company has been asking for bank guarantees from telcos for an amount equivalent to three months gross billing whereas the TRAI regulation provides for bank guarantee to be given for an amount equivalent to two months net billing.
