TRAI ultimatum on DoT issues

NEW DELHI, May 7: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India TRAI has given the Department of Telecommunications DoT time till May 31 to resolve all the pending issues regarding the finalisation of the Licence Agreement for basic services. In a letter to the Chairman of the Telecom Commission earlier this week stating that in case the Commission is unable to meet this deadline, the TRAI would move in to decide these issues.

The TRAI move, experts say, is aimed at resolving the imbroglio between the DoT and the private operators on the issue of interconnect charges. DoT, which has announced three revisions in the interconnect charges, is unwilling to cut these charges any further.