INVC NEWS
New Delhi ,
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released its recommendations on ‘Ease of Doing Business in Telecom and Broadcasting Sector.’ The recommendations focus on creating an eco-system that will pave the way for a periodic review and further reforms in the industry.
In recent years, Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) has become one of the focus areas of the Indian Government. The government is striving to improve the business environment at every stage across all sectors, and as a sector regulator, TRAI aims to improve the business environment in the telecom and broadcasting industry.
To achieve this goal, the TRAI floated a consultation paper on “Ease of Doing Business in Telecom and Broadcasting Sector” on December 08, 2021. The consultation paper required a comprehensive review of end-to-end processes with a ‘Whole of Government’ approach. The TRAI invited written comments and counter-comments from stakeholders until February 09, 2022, and February 23, 2022, respectively. The Authority received 45 comments and four counter-comments from various stakeholders.
An Open House Discussion (OHD) was also convened on the issues raised in the consultation paper on April 21, 2022, through online mode. The TRAI team engaged with the respective officers and officials, taking a collaborative and conciliatory approach that has already started helping policy makers to identify redundant processes and information.
The TRAI recommends the establishment of a standing committee with a focus on EoDB to regularly review, simplify, and update the existing processes and ensure ease of doing business as an on-going activity. The recommendations aim to create a process-based approach on EoDB and envision such an eco-system will pave the way for a periodic review and further reforms.
The salient features of these recommendations include a user-friendly, transparent, and responsive digital single-window system-based portal enabled with new digital technologies for achieving end-to-end inter-departmental online processes. Each Ministry should establish a standing EoDB Committee to ensure ease of doing business as an on-going activity.
MIB, DoT, DOS, MeitY, and other agencies should specify stage-wise timelines for all the processes, including initial as well as additional permissions, which should be mentioned in the respective guidelines/policies and updated in the Citizen Charter. The government may consider and grant ‘Infrastructure Status’ to ‘Broadcasting and Cable Services Sector.’
The TRAI recommends that the WPC should charge the spectrum royalty fee for temporary uplinking of live events on a pro-rata basis for the actual number of days of the event. Furthermore, a simple mobile app should be developed by the MIB for the registration of LCOs, and the process of RoW approvals for LCOs should be enabled.
The TRAI also recommends that there should be a module in the single-window portal to comply with the end-to-end requirements of the rollout obligation process. The process of request for remote access to the network from foreign locations and approval by DoT should be made online and time-bound.
These recommendations will help reduce the compliance burden on the industry and create a favorable business environment for the orderly growth of the two sectors. The TRAI remains committed to creating and nurturing conditions for orderly growth and quick implementation of these recommendations will engender the growth of these sectors.
In conclusion, the recommendations made by TRAI are a step towards improving the business environment in the telecom and broadcasting sector, and if implemented, they will go a long way in simplifying processes and enhancing the ease of doing business.
