The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a consultation paper titled “Review of Tariff for Domestic Leased Circuits (DLCs).” Section 11(2) of the TRAI Act, 1997, empowers TRAI to notify rates for various telecommunication services. In exercise of these powers, TRAI has been notifying ceiling tariffs for DLCs, with the last such notification being the TTO (57th and 58th Amendment) of 2014.
The primary purpose of the present consultation paper is to seek stakeholders’ comments regarding the review of the existing DLC ceiling tariff framework in line with current market conditions and technological advancements, with an overall objective of promoting transparency and competition in the DLC market and facilitating equitable and affordable access to DLCs across regions and categories of users. This proposed ceiling tariff review also seeks to consider the evolution of DLCs, including both point-to-point (P2P) and virtual private network (VPN)-based DLCs, as a managed service carrying various service commitments such as bandwidth, uptime, latency, etc.
In this regard, a pre-consultation paper was previously released on April 29, 2025 to gather stakeholders’ views on the subject matter. Based on stakeholders’ input received on the pre-consultation paper and TRAI’s further analysis, a consultation paper on review of tariff for DLCs has been placed on TRAI’s website. Stakeholders have been requested to provide their written comments by February 22, 2026.
