The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released draft Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Repealing Regulations 2023, for inviting comments of stakeholders.
The regulation was notified by TRAI on the quality of service of dial-up and leased line internet access service on December 10, 2001. With purpose of ensuring customer satisfaction, norms were laid down for network performance, which the service providers are required to achieve with proper dimensioning of their network. This will help in comparing the specified norms so as to monitor the level of performance provided by service providers and to protect the interest of their subscribers.
These regulations were issued when the dial up service was the only service available for accessing low speed internet. With the passage of time, the telecommunication networks both wireline as well as wireless have evolved to offer high speed broadband service on x-digital subscriber line (xDSL), fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), long-term evolution (LTE), etc. technologies. Whereas the leased line access services are generally offered by internet gateway service providers (IGSPs) holding an internet service provider (ISP) licence to enterprises, is a service level agreement (SLA) based service. Being SLA based service, the agreement among the contracting parties has sufficient provisions to safeguard concerns regarding service quality. Hence, the regulation on quality of service of dial-up and leased line internet access service, 2001, appears to be no more relevant in the present context.
In view of the above, TRAI intends to repeal the regulation on quality of service of dial-up and leased line internet access service, 2001 (4 of 2001) with effect from date of its notification in the official gazette. It has invited comments from stakeholders on the same by April 17, 2023.
