The Telecommunication Interconnection
Usage Charges (Sixteenth Amendment) Regulations, 2020-Overview
International
termination charge (ITC) is the charge payable by an Indian International
Long-Distance Operator (ILDO), who carries the call from outside the country,
to the access provider in the country in whose network the call terminates.
The
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today issued “The
Telecommunication Interconnection Usage Charges (Sixteenth Amendment)
Regulations, 2020” which revise the present regime of fixed International
Termination Charges (ITC) @ Re.0.30 per minute to forbearance regime within a
prescribed range of Re. 0.35 per minute to Re. 0.65 per minute. To ensure the
level playing field between standalone and integrated International
Long-Distance Operators (ILDOs), the Authority is mandating that an Access
Service provider shall offer the non-discriminatory rate of ITC to everyone
i.e. to its own associated ILDO as well as to standalone ILDOs.
The development comes
after TRAI issued a consultation on the international call termination charge
in November last year.
The
previous regime had come into effect on February 1, 2018, which revised the
termination charge for international incoming call to 30 paise.
Major Keywords to understand:
A. Interconnection
1. Interconnection means the commercial and
technical arrangements under which service providers connect their equipment,
networks and services to enable their customers to have access to the customers,
services and networks of other service providers.
2. Interconnection is extremely important from a
consumer’s perspective. Subscribers of different service providers or network
operators cannot communicate with each other or avail the services they demand unless
essential interconnection arrangements are in place. Commercial and technical
arrangements must be made to facilitate interconnection between network
operators. Several issues must be agreed upon by the operators or determined by
the regulator in order to finalize these arrangements. Interconnection is one
of the foundations of viable competition and is very much essential for orderly
growth of the telecommunications sector.
B. Interconnection Usage Charge (IUC)
3. Interconnection Usage Charge (IUC) is one of
the most important commercial issue for a successful interconnection
arrangement. A brief description of the various components of IUC is explained underneath.
(1) Domestic Termination Charge
4. Domestic termination charge (DTC) is the
charge payable by an access provider, whose subscriber originates the call, to
the access service provider (ASP) in whose network the call terminates. In a Calling-Party-Pay
(CPP) regime, the calling subscriber pays for the call to his access provider
and the calling party’s access provider usually pays the termination charge to
the called party’s access provider to cover the network usage cost.
(2) International Termination Charge
5. International termination charge (ITC) is the charge
payable by an Indian International Long-Distance Operator (ILDO), who carries
the call from outside the country, to the access provider in the country in whose
network the call terminates.
(3) Transit Charge
6. When two telecom networks are not directly connected, an
intermediate network is used through which calls are transmitted to the
terminating network. Such an intermediate network is known as a transit network,
and the charges to be paid to the transit network to cover the
interconnection/network usage cost are called transit charges.
(4) Carriage Charges
7. Access providers in India can offer access services
within the Licensed Service Areas (LSAs), also known as circles; the
inter-circle traffic is required to be routed through a National Long-Distance Operator
(NLDO). The charges to be paid by an access provider to the NLDO to cover the
cost for carrying the inter-circle calls are called carriage charges.
(5) Origination Charges
8. The calling party’s access provider collects call charges
from the calling party (i.e. the subscriber) as per the applicable tariff. From
the amount so collected from the subscriber, the access provider has to pay
termination charges to the called party’s access provider and carriage charges
(in case of an inter-circle call) to the NLDO. The access provider retains the
balance amount to cover the cost of originating the call. The amount so
retained by the calling party’s access provider is called an origination
charge. In India, origination charges have not been specified by the regulator
and are under forbearance.
(6) International Settlement Charge
9. International settlement charges are the charges
exchanged between foreign service providers and Indian ILDOs for exchanging
international traffic. The international settlement charge includes international
carriage charge, national carriage charge (if any), and the domestic
termination charge. Keeping in view all these facts, the authority has decided
that the rate of ITC shall be kept under forbearance within a prescribed range
of Re. 0.35 per minute to Re. 0.65 per minute. As this new regulatory regime
for the rate of ITC is being prescribed for the first time in the country, the
Authority would closely monitor its implementation, including the trends and
patterns of ILD voice traffic in the country. The Authority, if it deems
necessary, may review this regime as well as the rate of ITC in due course of
time.
DISCLAIMER: THE
ARTICLE IS BASED ON THE RELEVANT PROVISIONS AND AS PER THE INFORMATION EXISTING
AT THE TIME OF THE PREPARATION. IN NO EVENT I SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT
AND INDIRECT RESULT FROM THIS ARTICLE. THIS IS ONLY A KNOWLEDGE SHARING
INITIATIVE.
THE AUTHOR – CS
DEEPAK SETH (ASSOCIATE
PARTNER AT HELPINGHANDS PROFESSIONALS LLP) AND CAN BE REACHED AT
CONTACTHHPRO@GMAIL.COM OR 9910248911.
0 Comments