TRAI Proposes Overhaul of Telecom Licensing Under New 2023 Act

TRAI Unveils New Telecom Licensing Framework under Telecommunications Act, 2023
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued recommendations for a revamped telecommunication licensing regime under the Telecommunications Act of 2023. Through these recommendations, the Authority has recommended a new service authorisation framework, said the Ministry of Communications on Wednesday. The new framework aims to simplify processes, encourage competition, and boost the ease of doing business in the telecom sector.

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The recommendations on the ‘Framework for Service Authorisations to be Granted Under the Telecommunications Act, 2023’ consist of four chapters, running over 350 pages. The terms and conditions to be included in the different Rules for different service authorisations have also been recommended. In total, there are 14 Rules for recommended service authorisations running into 440 pages, the ministry said.

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The key highlights of the framework include:

New Authorisation Categories:

Three broad categories—Main, Auxiliary, and Captive service authorisations—will streamline licensing for various telecom services.

The main service authorisations cover all primary telecommunication services that are involved in the delivery of telecommunication services to the public at large such as Access Services, Internet services, Long Distance Services, Satellite based telecommunication services and M2M WAN services.

Unified Service Authorisation:

A single authorisation, called “Unified Service Authorisation,” allows entities to offer a wide range of services, such as mobile, internet, satellite communications, and IoT, under one license on a pan-India basis.

Under the new authorisation framework, ‘Unified Service Authorisation’ has been introduced to achieve the objective of ‘One Nation – One Authorisation’ across services and service areas.

An entity holding Unified Service Authorisation can provide mobile service, internet service, broadband service, landline telephone service, long-distance service, satellite communication service, Machine to Machine (M2M) and IoT service etc. on a pan-India basis under a single authorisation.