The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has published the “International Telecommunication Cable Landing Stations Access Facilitation Charges and Co-Location Charges Regulations, 2012.” This is the second set of regulations issued by TRAI on this subject. Prior to this, in 2007, TRAI issued the “International Telecommunication Access to Essential Facility at Cable Landing Station Regulations” and thereafter, issued a consultation paper on March 22, 2012.
As per TRAI’s latest regulations, operators will now have to pay Rs 36,000 per annum as access facilitation charges per unit capacity for STM 1 capacity and Rs 0.625 million for STM 64 capacity at the cable landing station. Further, the access facilitation charge for alternate locations ranges between Rs 111,000 and Rs 1.95 million per annum.
The revised access facilitation charges will help reduce the price of international private leased circuits for business processing outsourcing/call centers, small and medium enterprises and other information technology enabled service providers.
The new regulation will be effective from January 1, 2013.
Access facilitation charges are payable by international long distance operators or internet service providers to the owner of the cable landing station to access international bandwidth in a submarine cable. Submarine cables provide international telecommunication links between countries across the world and these cables terminate in the country through cable landing stations.
To read the complete notification, click here
