Centre may revamp Trai as permanent technical body, may get more power

The government may present a separate draft bill to revamp the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), which was set up in 1997, into a permanent technical body, reported Mint citing a top official. With this, the regulator will get more authority and will be able to penalise companies that do not uphold quality standards, similar to the UK and US communications authorities such as Ofcom and Fedral Communications Commissions (FCC).

The official added that the contentious provisions concerning the dilution of the telecom regulator’s powers would be removed from the draft telecom bill.

The disputed draft telecom bill included a provision to eliminate Trai Act provisions that provide checks and balances through a process of dialogue between the regulator and the telecom department.

Some argued that this would lessen Trai’s power and reduce it to a purely advisory body.

The government and Trai have been at odds over the draft telecom bill for the past few weeks. According to some reports, Trai was uncomfortable with the amendments that were being considered for the draft telecom bill.

However, officers from the telecom department and members of Trai were able to settle the disagreements through several meetings over the past weeks, the official said.

“It’s been decided that we wait for the bill to be absorbed by the industry and come up with a new bill for Trai after three to four years. Therefore, we have removed almost all of the amendments,” the official added.

The changes to be made in the telecom bill, as a result of these meetings, will be added in the second version of the draft bill.

The official also said that the proposed bill would make Trai a powerful body with international ideals and dedicated human resources in place of government officials on deputation to supervise the sector effectively. The proposed bill would transform Trai into an oganisation similar to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the US and Ofcom of the United Kingdom.