TRAI Invites Comments to Boost Public Wi‑Fi Infrastructure Nationwide

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a consultation paper on the “Proliferation of Public Wi-Fi Networks in India,” inviting stakeholder comments by May 25, 2026 and counter-comments by June 8, 2026. The paper aims to accelerate public Wi-Fi deployment, improve viability, and strengthen India’s digital inclusion push.

Key Highlights

• Release Date: April 27, 2026
• Deadline for Comments: May 25, 2026
• Deadline for Counter-Comments: June 8, 2026
• Submission Emails: advbbpa@trai.gov.in, jtadvbbpa-1@trai.gov.in
• Clarification Contact: Dr. Abdul Kayum, Advisor (Broadband & Policy Analysis)

Objectives of the Paper

• Review of global best practices from countries like South Korea, EU, UK, and Singapore.
• Assessment of India’s current status, including deployment trends and demand patterns.
• Identification of challenges such as limited viability, underutilisation, and security concerns.

Focus Areas

Area	Details
Stakeholder Roles	Central & State Governments, local bodies, TSPs/ISPs, private players
Operational Issues	Authorisation, authentication, roaming, billing systems
Revenue Models	Direct and indirect streams for sustainability
Digital Inclusion	Affordable connectivity for rural and urban users

Why Public Wi-Fi Matters

• Lower per-GB data cost compared to mobile broadband.
• Reduces congestion in dense urban areas.
• Critical for railway stations, airports, markets, and educational institutions.
• Supports Digital India goals in education, healthcare, finance, and governance.

Challenges Ahead

• High leased-line rates imposed on small shops hinder hotspot expansion.
• Strict authentication norms raise usability concerns.
• Need for viable business models to ensure long-term growth.

Call to Action

TRAI has urged industry stakeholders, government bodies, and private players to submit their views. The consultation is expected to shape India’s next phase of digital infrastructure expansion, ensuring that public Wi-Fi becomes a reliable, affordable, and scalable complement to mobile broadband.

Summary of TRAI Consultation Paper

This consultation paper by TRAI addresses the proliferation, regulation, and socio-economic impact of public Wi-Fi networks in India.

Importance of Broadband Infrastructure

• Broadband supports digital transformation in education, health, finance, and governance.
• Essential for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• High-speed, reliable broadband underpins India’s economic growth and public service delivery.

Evolution and Technologies of Wi-Fi

• Advancement from 802.11a/g to Wi-Fi 7, with Wi-Fi 6E extending into the 6 GHz band.
• Security protocols evolved from WEP to WPA3, enhancing encryption and user protection.

Public Wi-Fi Ecosystem and Deployment Models

• Access points linked via star, tree, or mesh topologies for seamless connectivity.
• Passpoint enables secure roaming; QoS frameworks ensure performance in dense environments.

Socio-Economic Role of Public Wi-Fi

• Alleviates network congestion and reduces costs for users.
• Vital for remote work, online education, and government services.
• Supports affordable internet access for low-income households.

Global Trends and Challenges

• South Korea and Singapore showcase successful expansion models.
• High monthly home Wi-Fi expenses limit adoption, emphasizing shared public networks.

Global Public Wi-Fi Deployment Trends

Year	Hotspots (Millions)
2019	362
2022	549
2030 (Projected)	3,150

International Public Wi-Fi Models

• South Korea: Integrated government-private approach with fiber backhaul.
• EU: WiFi4EU funded 93,000+ hotspots via vouchers.
• UK: ISP-managed infrastructure with Project Gigabit support.
• US: Public-private layered model with federal grants.

Regional Market Development

• North America: USD 2.9 billion market share.
• Asia-Pacific: Fastest-growing with 15.5% CAGR.
• Europe: USD 2.3 billion market, supported by EU funding.

Next-Generation Wi-Fi Technologies

• Wi-Fi 6, 6E, and 7 enhance capacity and efficiency.
• AI-enabled optimization and 5G–Wi-Fi integration.

Benefits and Challenges

• Supports smart city applications and community services.
• Security concerns require encryption, VPNs, and compliance with standards.

Role of Governments and PPPs

• Governments promote inclusion through funding and policy frameworks.
• Public-private collaborations leverage municipal fiber and asset sharing.

India’s Public Wi-Fi Landscape

• Initiatives: BharatNet, Digital India, PM-WANI.
• Challenges: uneven coverage, sustainability, interoperability.

Policy and Regulatory Measures

• Spectrum de-licensing and simplified licensing under PM-WANI.
• Recent reforms: routers broadcasting public SSIDs, expanded low-frequency bands.

Backhaul Infrastructure

• BharatNet and state fiber projects provide backbone.
• Last-mile connectivity gaps persist, requiring shared infrastructure.

Demand and Usage in India

• Mobile data affordable, but Wi-Fi adoption limited.
• Interventions: easy discovery, secure login, seamless roaming, awareness campaigns.

Expansion Strategies

• Rural: community-based models leveraging BharatNet.
• Urban: fiber strengthening, smart city integration.

Stakeholder Roles

• Government: policy, funding, infrastructure.
• Local bodies: asset access, last-mile extension.
• Private sector: venue owners, integrators, entrepreneurs.

Monetisation and Business Models

• Urban: ad-based, paid, bundled models.
• Rural: community funding and government support.
• Indirect benefits: analytics, traffic offload, smart city services.

Tanla Appoints Former TRAI Chairman Dr. RS Sharma to its Board of Directors

Tanla Platforms Limited (NSE:TANLA, BSE:532790), India's leading CPaaS player announced the appointment of former TRAI Chairman Dr. RS Sharma to its board of directors, bringing the total number of directors on Tanla's Board to 7.

“Dr. Sharma's incredible vision and track record in India's digital transformation journey makes him an invaluable addition to Tanla's august board." said Uday Reddy, Founder Chairman and CEO. “We are excited to learn from his pioneering experiences & advice for continued success of Tanla Platforms globally.”

Dr. Sharma had a distinguished career in the Government of close to five decades driving India's digital transformation.

He was Chairman of the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) between 2015 to 2020 and his tenure was marked by initiatives promoting net neutrality and consumer rights. Over the years, he has spearheaded multiple Government initiatives. As Chairman of the Empowered Group of COVID vaccine Administration (EGVAC), Dr. Sharma steered the design and roll out of Co-Win - the digital backbone of vaccination drive in India, which won international acclaim. As the CEO of National Health Authority (NHA), he was instrumental in implementing two health initiatives of the Government of India, Ayushman Bharat Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). He is also best known for the role he played as Director General & Mission Director of the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) in the years 2009 - 2013.

“Tanla is adept at harnessing disruptive technologies. And I see how they have innovated to foster trust in the CPaaS ecosystem.” said Dr. Sharma. “Joining the board of such a forward-thinking technology company is really an opportunity to contribute to nation building."

An Indian Administrative Service officer since 1978, Dr Sharma holds a PhD in Management and Public Policy from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, Masters in Computer Sciences from the University of California, USA and Masters in Mathematics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Dr Sharma also holds an LLB degree.

About Tanla:

Tanla Platforms Limited transforms the way the world collaborates and communicates through innovative CPaaS solutions. Founded in 1999, it was the first company to develop and deploy A2P SMSC in India. Today, as one of the world's largest CPaaS players, it processes more than 800 billion interactions annually and about 63% of India's A2P SMS traffic is processed through Trubloq, making it the world's largest Blockchain use case. Wisely, our patented enterprise-grade platform offers private, secure, and trusted experiences for enterprises and mobile carriers. Tanla Platforms Limited is headquartered in Hyderabad. Tanla is listed on two national exchanges, the NSE and BSE (NSE: TANLA; BSE:532790) and is included in prestigious indices such as the Nifty 500, BSE 500, Nifty Digital Index, FTSE Russell, and MSCI.

TRAI Recommends Setting Up Artificial Intelligence and Data Authority of India (AIDAI)

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has today released its recommendations on ‘Leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in Telecommunication Sector’. The telecom regulatory body also proposed that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) be designated as the administrative ministry for AI.

TRAI recommends setting up regulatory framework. "For ensuring development of responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India, there is an urgent need to adopt a regulatory framework by the Government that should be applicable across sectors," says the TRAI recommendation.The broad principles of the suggested regulatory framework, TRAI says should comprise of —

• An independent statutory authority.
• A Multi Stakeholder Body (MSB) that will act as an advisory body to the proposed statutory authority.
• Categorizations of the AI use cases based on their risk and regulating them according to broad principles of Responsible AI

TRAI recommends of immediately establishing an independent statutory authority for ensuring development of responsible AI and regulation of use cases in India.

TRAI designates the authority as — “Artificial Intelligence and Data Authority of India” (AIDAI).

AIDAI functions –

• Regulation Making Functions
• Recommendatory functions 

Regulation Making Functions –

• Framing regulations on various aspects of AI including its responsible use. 
• Defining principles of responsible AI and their applicability on AI use cases based on risk assessment.
• AIDAI should evolve the framework based on its assessment, advice of proposed MSB, global best practices, and public consultation.
• Ensuring that principles of responsible AI are made applicable at each phase of AI framework lifecycle viz. design, development, validation, deployment, monitoring and refinement.
• Developing model AI Governance Framework to guide organizations on deploying AI in a responsible manner.
• Developing model Ethical Codes for adoption by public and private entities in different sectors. Any other aspect of regulation of AI for orderly growth of the AI s ector and protection of the consumers

Recommondatory Functions —

• Facilitating adoption of future technologies and innovative architectures related to AI models.
• Monitoring and making recommendations on the enforcement framework on AI applications and its u se cases.
• Coordinating with technical standard setting bodies of government like Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) for accreditation of various labs for testing and accreditation of AI products and solutions and giving recommendations thereof.
• Capacity building and infrastructure requirements related evaluation and giving recommendations to the Government.
• Assess the data digitization requirement in the country; review and prioritize the avenues requiring concentrated efforts for data digitization and fix time frames accordingly.
• Be the apex body to oversee all issues related to data digitization, data sharing and data monetization in the country including framing policies and incentivization schemes for data digitalization, data sharing and data mone tization.
• Define the process framework for use of AI and related technology in data processing, data sharing and data monetization while ensuring the privacy and security of the data owner.
• Putting in place an overarching framework for ethical use of data both by the Government as well as by the corporates in India.The framework should address the generic as well as vertical sector specific requirements.
• Study the possible impact of upcoming technologies on data ethics and come out with relevant rules/guidelines on the subject. 
• Creation of a national level mechanism to bring the State Governments, Local Bodies and other agencies onboard to adopt the national policy on data governance.
• Creation of a uniform framework to on entities for adoptboard private ion of national policy on data governance and to enable them and public sector entities to digitalize, monetize and share their data within the privacy and other applicable laws and policies.

TRAI also recommend that DoT should, in collaboration with organizations such as IISc Bangalore, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur and other research institutes, launch research in telecommunication s develop indigenous AI use cases.

In the recommendation, TRAI advices of AI Specific Infrastructure and Experimental Campuses.

"At least one Centre of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence (CoEAI) should be established in each State/UT for facilitating educational institutions, startups, innovators, researchers and other public/private entities to develop and demonstrate technological capabilities. These centres should have access to high bandwidth, computational facilities and data sets for training AI models. All such centres should also be linked with proposed 5G/6G labs for sharing of resources and knowledge. To galvanize an effective AI ecosystem and to nurture quality human resources these CoE-AIs should allow industry players as well as startups to partner with academia in conducting research, developing cutting-edge applications and scalable problem solutions in various fields such as agriculture, healthcare, education, smart cities, smart mobilities, etc.," the recommendation paper mentioned.

Meanwhile, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released their "Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services." In this , the Chinese government lays out its rules to regulate those who provide generative AI capabilities to the public in China.

While the US is still underway to Regulate AI, the EU’s AI Act is being speculated as the possible global standard for AI Regulation,just like GDPR – likely changing how many machine learning engineers do their work. The proposal includes a ban on certain uses of AI, such as facial recognition in public spaces, as well as requirements for transparency and accountability in the use of AI.

To recall, TRAI had earlier floated a consultation paper to explore a framework for internet-based calls and messaging apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Apple's FaceTime etc. and selectively ban their services during emergency situations.

TRAI Exploring Emergency Ban on WhatsApp and Facebook

TRAI releases Consultation Paper on Regulatory Mechanism for Over-The-Top (OTT) Communication Services, and Selective Banning of OTT Services.

India's telecom services regulator, TRAI, has floated a consultation paper to explore a framework for internet-based calls and messaging apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Apple's FaceTime etc. and selectively ban their services during emergency situations.

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has requested TRAI to suggest a suitable regulatory mechanism for OTTs, including issues relating to 'selective banning of O1T services' as part of its recommendations to DoT.

Further, a parliamentary panel has recommended the DoT to examine the recommendation of TRAI and come out with a policy which will enable the selective banning of OTT services such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram during unrest and crisis as these apps are prone to be used by terrorists or anti-national elements in specified regions.

In December 2021, a Parliament’s Standing Committee on Communication and Information Technology submitted its 26th report titled ‘Suspension of telecom services/ Internet and its impact’.

The Committee feels that it will be of great relief if the DoT can explore the option of banning selective services, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram etc. instead of banning the Internet as a whole. This will allow financial services, health, education, and various other services to continue to operate for business as usual thereby minimizing inconvenience and suffering to the general public and also help in controlling spreading of misinformation during unrest.

Through the letter dated 7th September 2022, DoT has also mentioned that "in view of the humongous growth of services in the recent past and these services having reached a matured stage, there is a need to holistically look into the various aspects of these services induding regulatory, economic, security, privacy, and safety aspects. This is also in keeping with para 2.2 of the National Digital Communications Policy - 2018 which mentions the policy goal for "Ensuring a holitic and harmonal approach for harnessing Emerging Technologies' It has been mentioned therein that a policy framework for 'Over the Top' services will be developed."

The consultation paper mentions — "In some use cases such as messaging, consumer preferences have switched from traditional telecommunication services to OTTs. With OTTs used increasingly for messaging and to some extent for voice communication, globally, the general trend is a transition from voice and SMS towards data as a primary source of revenue for telecom service providers. In India, composition of the revenue basket of wireless access service providers has undergone a sea-change in the period from the year 2013 to 2022.

Cloud based OTTs : An Issue for Selective Banning

DoT has informed committee that services hosted on cloud are difficult to ban selectively since they operate from multiple locations in multiple countries and continuously shift from one service to the other. However, websites operating through fixed URLs can be banned.

The websites that use dynamic IP addresses and are hosted on cloud servers can pose a challenge to conventional methods of blocking – said the consultation paper. In such situations, such situations, alternative methods may be necessary to effectively control internet filtering. Advanced techniques can be employed to identify and block access to such websites.

Further, there may be scenarios where the targeted websites use Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https) protocol. HTTPS protocol provides encryption and security for websites, making it difficult for service providers to block content on these sites. However, there are still ways to block or filter content at a network level, such as using a firewall or content filtering software. As far as area specific barring is concerned, it also needs to be carried out at network level, for which effective methods are required to be worked out.

The Department have also informed the parliamentary committee that Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram etc. are basically categorized as OTT services in short. These OTT services are riding over the existing telecom service provider's network.

In the consultation paper, the regulator has sought views on the requirement of a framework for OTTs encompassing lawful interception, privacy and security, customer verification, pesky calls and messages, technical challenges in banning specific service etc.

In the past several consultation papers, TRAI has set aside the demand for regulating internet-based calling and messaging apps.

TRAI has set August 4 as the last date for comments on the paper and August 18 for counter comments.

India Can Become World Leader in AI & ML: TRAI Chairman Dr. P D Vaghela

India has a demographic advantage in IT talent and a fast-growing start-up culture that can be used to its utmost potential for the country to become a world leader in AI and ML. Dr. P D Vaghela, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), said this at the 17th India Digital Summit (IDS 2023), being organized here by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), in association with Google and MessageBird, on February 20-21, 2023. Quoting a PwC research, he said, Artificial Intelligence (AI) could boost the world economy by up to USD 15.7 trillion by 2030.

In his address, Dr. Vaghela extensively spoke about 5G and 6G use-cases and how the government was increasingly supporting R&D for different use cases. “The road ahead is full of exciting challenges and opportunities and one thing is certain that the future of India rests on our ability to embrace new technologies, respond to technology disruptions and seize the right opportunities,” he said.

“The Government is already promoting start-up ecosystem and with over 5 billion IT professionals, India already boasts the largest IT talent in the world. And with startups capitalizing on digital governance, I am sure that India@2047 will be a force to reckon with,” Dr. Vaghela added.

Dr. Vaghela in his address said that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) intended to regulate the sector with transparency while also promoting competition and safeguarding the rights of citizens.

Referring to the theme of IDS 2023, Amrit Kaal: Digital India@100, Dr. Vaghela pointed out the need to re-emphasize the eight crucial governance issues for India’s journey over the next 25 years. These include:

1. how to revamp our digital governance infrastructure,
2. challenges arising out of convergence and reduced investment cycles due to technology disruptions,
3. identifying appropriate technologies, keeping in mind our demographic advantage, the strength of our IT skills and strength of the SME sector,
4. boosting local manufacturing of digital equipment,
5. keeping technology at the core of policy formulation,
6. practical implementation of whole of the government approach through a collaborative approach,
7. pursuing sustainable and equitable whole of society approach and ensuring socio-economic, digital inclusion and
8. strengthening cybersecurity, bringing in vibrant privacy law and protecting citizens from spam and frauds.

The 17th India Digital Summit will bring together over 150 speakers, including policymakers, regulators, industry captains and subject stalwarts in more than 60 sessions, with a representation from over 500 digital brands, and participation of over 3000 delegates.

About IAMAI

Established in 2004, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) is a not-for-profit industry body and the country's only organization representing the digital services industry with over 450 Indian and multinational corporations as its members, which include established companies in diverse sectors of the digital ecosystem as well as start-ups. Its mandate is to expand and enhance the online and mobile value-added services sectors. It is dedicated to presenting a unified voice of the businesses it represents to the government, investors, consumers and other stakeholders. IAMAI represents varied sectors such as digital advertising, digital entertainment, TravelTech, online gaming, digital payments, fintech, digital commerce, Edtech, Healthtech, Agritech, Big data, ML, AI & IoT, AR/ VR, LogisticsTech and so on.

For any query please contact: Nilanjan Hajra, Associate Vice President, IAMAI | h.nilanjan@iamai.in

Trai Stresses on Expansion of Wifi Hotspots for Connectivity Push

Telecom regulator Trai on Friday stressed on the need to expand Wifi hotspots in the country, and said acceptance of its proposals on 'Wifi access network interface' could provide fillip to such connectivity.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Chairman R S Sharma said that telecom operators, at times, feel that having Wifi hotspots will impact sale of data through wireless, which is a "short-term thinking".

The total number of Wifi hotspots in the country is less than 1,00,000, while in smaller markets like France the number of Wifi hotspots are close to 1.8 million.

"We were talking that we will end up having large number of Wifi hotspots, hundreds of millions of Wifi hotspots...we have not been able to do it.

"Somehow or the other the telecom service providers feel that if I have Wifi hotspots then my sale of data through the wireless will go down, but that is a very short-term thinking in my view and what we need to do is to proliferate wifi as much as possible," Sharma said.

He was speaking in a webinar on the ‘role of Wifi in broadband proliferation' organised by Broadband India Forum (BIF). Sharma said one of the most important use cases of 5G in India will be to provide fixed wireless access.

Asked when Trai could be expected to start 6 GHz spectrum consultation process, Sharma said that work on that would start once there is reference from the telecom department on the same.

"As of now we don't have any reference from Department of Telecom on the subject.

“Typically on spectrum question...while we have the mandate to, and can start suo moto consultation on any of the issues... typically on spectrum questions, their reserve prices and other kinds of issue... we get references from DoT. My short answer is we will start the consultation when we get the reference from DoT," he said.

Speaking at the webinar, US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai said that during his visit to India in February, he had a discussion with DoT secretary around 6 GHz radiowaves.

"During my visit to India in February, I had a good discussion with Secretary (Anshu) Prakash about our 6 GHz efforts, so I know that India is interested in exploring the possibilities of unlicensed use in this band," Pai said in the online the event.

The internet has become the "indispensable platform" for innovation, job creation, and free expression, Pai said.

Promoting the availability of Wifi and advances in this technology are key pieces of any strategy to provide connectivity for all, he added.

"Wifi will be even more important in the years to come. By one estimate, the economic value created by Wifi in the United States is projected to double by 2023—reaching nearly USD 1 trillion," Pai said while outlining measures taken by the US regulator to harness the power of Wifi for bridging digital divide.

Sharma said that in contrast to other countries, in India only seven per cent data rides on fixed access, while 93 per cent comes from wireless.

"We have huge data coming on wireless and therefore (it) puts load on the spectrum in some sense, the quality of service gets affected," he said.

While tech adoption takes place fast in India, it is the frugal, interoperaple and scalable technologies that work the best and succeed in this market.

"We gave proposal for Wifi access network interface and we gave this proposal after huge consultation and pilot...," he said urging DoT to look into the issue.

Trai had mooted an 'unbundled and distributed model' for proliferation of broadband through public Wifi networks, under which a PDO (interested companies, even a small shop owners) can establish and maintain Wifi hotspots and delivery of broadband services.

PDO (public data office) would be supported by PDO aggregator and app provider in performing other functions. A PDOA would aggregate multiple wifi hotspots being operated by individual PDOs and authorise authenticated subscribers to use them for accessing broadband services. PTI MBI

"BroadBand for All": BIF Pushes for Implementation of TRAI's Public Wi-Fi Recommendations

The Broadband India Forum (BIF) on Sunday threw its weight behind regulator Trai's recommendations on public wi-fi, saying its implementation will help achieve the government's 'Broadband for All' and 'Digital India' objectives and aid business and job creation.

In a statement, BIF rued that in the period of four years that Trai's recommendations "remained unactioned", the country could have suffered a "large and irretrievable loss".

BIF President T V Ramachandran said Trai's recommendations on public wi-fi will encourage village level entrepreneurship and provide large employment opportunities at local level, especially in rural areas, thus propelling socio-economic development and inclusion, as well as rural digital connectivity.

Last week, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had contested the Department of Telecom's views that public data office aggregators (PDOAs) which had been proposed by it, should operate under licence norms applicable for internet providers (ISPs) and virtual network operators (VNOs).

"Asking PDOAs to operate under Unified Licence (VNO-ISP), which is designed to regulate integrated ISPs, would defeat the whole purpose of this exercise, and kill the innovation at initial stage itself...the authority does not agree with the DoT proposal of granting UL (VNO-ISP) license to PDOA," Trai said.

The regulator has said that registrations for PDOA, app provider and Central Registry Agency -- all of which form crucial elements of its blueprint for proliferation of broadband through public wi-fi networks -- should have pan-India operations permission.

"Further, for pan India operations a one-time registration fee of Rs 10,000 for app provider and PDOA is recommended," Trai said responding to the views received from the Department of Telecom (DoT) on its past recommendations on public wi-fi networks.

Trai has argued that regulating PDOAs through the existing unified licence or VNO licence norms would not be feasible as aggregators would not be able to comply with many terms and conditions of such licence.

Under the 'unbundled and distributed model' mooted by Trai for proliferation of broadband through public wi-fi networks, a PDO (interested companies, even small shop owners) can establish and maintain wi-fi hotspots and delivery of broadband services.

The PDO would be supported by PDO aggregator and app provider in performing other functions. A PDOA would aggregate multiple wi-fi hotspots being operated by individual PDOs and authorise authenticated subscribers to use them for accessing broadband services.

BIF stated that in the interregnum of four years that Trai's public wi-fi recommendations remained unactioned, the country "could well have suffered a large and irretrievable loss".

"If these TRAI recommendations had been accepted back then, the common man, the economy and the nation as a whole would have reaped rich and wondrous benefits...if we go by World Bank's finding in 2009, that a 10 per cent increase in broadband penetration leads to a 1.38 per cent increase in GDP growth for low income countries (like India); or as shown again by ICRIER in 2017, that a 10 per cent increase in total internet traffic in India leads to... 3.3 per cent increase in GDP," it said.

BIF said that the telecom regulator's recommendation on public wi-fi will result in explosive growth in business and employment opportunities for small local or village-level entrepreneurs, kirana stores, tea-shops and the likes, besides providing affordable broadband to all.

The think-tank and policy forum for digital communications noted that India's broadband penetration is currently less than 50 per cent if one takes into account unique subscribers, although there are about 686 million total broadband connections, majority of whom are in the urban areas and having multiple SIMs.

The percentage of users who access broadband using public wi-fi hotspots are minimal due to lack of availability of the same, BIF said. PTI MBI

Free Voice Calls No Excuse for Poor Service Quality, says TRAI Chief

Telcos are citing free voice calls to duck action on poor quality of service, but that will not pass regulatory muster, Trai Chairman R S Sharma said on Sunday, assuring users that the issue of call drops remains on its agenda.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) head said the watchdog's earlier provision for a penalty on telcom firms for call drops was successfully challenged in the Supreme Court, but the regulator will continue to work for improving the quality of service.

"Most of the telcos are offering voice free, their argument is that if something is free, how much can you (Trai) punish me because I am not getting anything for that, which may not be correct because they are essentially cross-subsidising," Sharma said at the Asia Economic Dialogue here.

The comments come amid continuing call drops being experienced by subscribers across the country.

After the entry of Reliance Jio in 2016, voice calling has become virtually free as it is getting embedded in the data plans. This has resulted in entrenched operators losing their biggest revenue stream, which has led to financial troubles.

Sharma acknowledged the problem of call drops and added that "hopefully" the service quality will get better over time.

Trai officials conduct standard tests on roads, trains and other busy spots and any operator found to be giving poor service is punished, he said.

Speaking at the conference co-organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Pune International Centre, he also urged citizens to come forward by allowing erection of telecom tower infrastructure, adding that there are no health hazards because of the same.

He also pitched for last-mile telecom infrastructure to be erected to ensure people get faster connectivity in their apartments in high-rises.

In his speech, Sharma also mentioned that the lowest tariffs in the world might be the reason why telecom companies are having a tough time in the country at present, but did not elaborate.

On the upcoming 5G technology, Sharma said it requires investment in infrastructure building and marked out optical fibre cable (OFC) laying as a crucial task, stating that there is a heavy dependence on wireless data transfer in India and there is a need for wired access as well.

He said there are sufficient number of use cases and applications of 5G which are available.

Sharma, who has also been associated with the Aadhaar project, said he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to adopt a "digital diplomacy" strategy, wherein New Delhi extends its know-how on projects like the biometric ID or payment systems to countries in Africa and Asia.

Speaking at the same event, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) Chief Executive Dilip Asbe said a trial run of its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is set to be carried out at a Singapore merchant on Sunday, which will herald the internationalisation of the domestic payments system.

He said a code will be scanned by a BHIM app to pay at the merchant's end in Singapore and the transaction settled.

Asbe also said the NPCI has been generating sufficient revenues to sustain its developmental activities.

Net Neutrality - TRAI Consultation on Traffic Management Practices, Multi-Stakeholder Body

Telecom regulator TRAI on Thursday started an industry-wide consultation on framework for network traffic management practices and multi-stakeholder body outlined in the net neutrality principles.

The consultation paper issued by TRAI on Thursday discusses various challenges in measurement of internet traffic and compilation of reasonable traffic management practices.

"The objective of this consultation paper is to deliberate the issues related to traffic management practices and the Multi Stakeholder body... It discusses about establishment of a framework to formulate traffic management practices. The paper also discusses about the issues related to composition, function, Governance Structure of multi-stakeholder body," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said.

The discussion paper is "limited" to the issues on which additional recommendation were sought by Telecom Department in its letter on July 2018, TRAI said while pointing out that the regulator has no intention to revisit its principles on Net Neutrality and broad approach recommended earlier.

TRAI said that comments on issues raised in the consultation paper should be submitted by January 30 and counter comments by February 13, 2020.

The net neutrality principles -- approved by the telecom department in 2018 -- prohibit service providers from discriminating against internet content and services by blocking, throttling or according preferential higher speeds.

Simply put, this means that entire internet traffic should be available to everyone on equal terms without any discrimination, and service providers cannot indulge in practices such as throttling any web traffic or providing fast lanes for specific content.

Globally, there have been widespread concerns on potential for discriminatory treatment of online traffic by the entities that control access to the internet. These concerns regarding non-discriminatory access have become the centre of a global policy debate, often referred to as the debate on `net neutrality'.

TRAI had earlier barred platforms like Facebook's Internet.Org and Airtel Zero which allowed free access to select websites, to check 'gate-keeping' in cyber space. TRAI, thereafter, also mooted restrictions on service providers that bars them from entering into agreements which lead to discriminatory treatment of content on the Internet. Based on TRAI recommendations, Telecom Commission in 2018 approved net neutrality rules which prohibit service providers from discriminating against Internet content and services by blocking, throttling or granting them higher speed access.

Some mission critical applications or services like remote surgery and autonomous cars will however be kept out of the purview of net neutrality framework.

While clearing the net neutrality rules, DoT had sought additional recommendations from TRAI on necessary Traffic Management Practices (TMPs) and composition, functions, role and responsibilities of the multi-stakeholder body for monitoring and enforcement.

"Any traffic management practice must only be applied to handle concerned exceptional circumstances and not for any commercial considerations," TRAI has said in its consultation paper on Thursday. It has sought stakeholder views on types of practices currently deployed by access providers to manage traffic.

"Out of these practices, which ones can be considered as reasonable from perspective of Net Neutrality. Whether list of Traffic Management Practises (TMPs) can be prepared in advance or it would be required to update it from time to time? If later is yes, then what framework would be required to be established by Multi-Stakeholder Body to keep it up to date?," TRAI has asked.

It has also sought views on set up needed for detecting violations of Net Neutrality.

Department of Telecom (DoT) had also asked the Trai to "recommend the composition, functions, role and responsibilities of the multi-stakeholder body" that will play an advisory role to DoT regrading monitoring and enforcement of net neutrality principles. Multi-Stakeholder Body will be responsible for providing support to Telecom Department in monitoring and enforcement of net neutrality principles and submit requisite reports to the Government based on monitoring and investigations.

"What should be the composition, functions, roles and responsibilities of multi-stakeholder body considering the decision of DoT that multi-stakeholder body shall have an advisory role and formulation of TMPs and Monitoring and Enforcement rest with DoT?," TRAI said. PTI MBI

Mobile Data Price Down by 95% but Revenue up 2.5 Times in 5 yrs: TRAI

New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) Prices of mobile data have fallen drastically by about 95 per cent to Rs 11.78 per gigabyte (GB) but cumulative revenue of telecom operators has risen by around 2.5 times to Rs 54,671 crore in the last five years, a Trai report said on Wednesday.

The data usage in the country increased by 56 folds to 46,404 million GB in 2018 from 828 million GB in 2014 with average data consumption in the country growing multi-fold to 7.6 GB per subscriber from 0.27 GB per subscriber during the same period, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in the report.

West Bengal, UP (West) and Assam service areas recorded growth of more than 100 per cent in the average wireless data usage per subscriber per year in 2018 while other service areas grew by over 50 per cent during the same period.

"Total volume of wireless data usage increased from 20,092 million GB in the year 2017 to 46,404 million GB in the year 2018 with yearly growth rate of 131 per cent. Total volume of wireless data usage in the year 2014 was only 828 million GB," the report said.

Out of the total volume of wireless data usage in 2018, 4G technology contributed the major part of 86.85 per cent with volume of 40,304 million GB while share of 2G, 3G and CDMA data usage is 0.95 per cent, 12.18 per cent and 0.01 per cent respectively in the total volume of wireless data usage.

The average revenue per person increased to Rs 90.02 in 2018 from Rs 71.25 in 2014.

"Total revenue from wireless data usage increased from Rs 38,882 crore in the year 2017 to Rs 54,671 crore in the year 2018 with yearly growth rate of 40.61 per cent. The total revenue from wireless data usages was Rs 22,265 crore in the year 2014," the report said.

The average cost to subscriber for wireless data in the year 2014 was Rs 269 per GB and Rs 226 per GB in 2015.

"On introduction of 4G technology in India, average cost to subscriber for wireless data usage sharply declined to Rs 75.57 per GB during the year 2016. Further, average cost to subscriber for wireless data declined from Rs 19.35 per GB in the year 2017 to Rs 11.78 per GB in the year 2018," the report said.

During the year 2018, UP (West) service area led the average wireless data usage per wireless data subscriber per month with 8.3 GB consumption followed by Punjab and Bihar service areas (8.1 GB in each) among all service areas.

UP (East) service area recorded the minimum average wireless data usage of 6.3 GB per wireless data subscriber per month during the year 2018, the report said. PTI PRS PRS

Jio adds 82.6 Lakh Subscriber in June; Churning continues for Vodafone Idea, Airtel: TRAI Data

Older operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea continued to lose subscribers - 41.75 lakh combined - during June, while rival Reliance Jio added over 82.6 lakh users, according to data released by telecom regulator TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India).

In absolute terms, Vodafone Idea continued to lead the total subscriber tally at 38.34 crore, followed by Jio with 33.12 crore and Bharti Airtel with 32.03 crore. Vodafone Idea shed 41.45 lakh subscribers, and Bharti Airtel 29,883 customers during June, while the Jio continued to add customers at a breakneck speed.

TRAI data showed that Jio gained 82.68 lakh customers in June, higher than 81.80 lakh additions it had notched in May. In the same month, Jio outrun Bharti Airtel to become the second largest mobile operator with 32.29 crore subscribers and 27.80 per cent market share in May, according to regulator TRAI's data.

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd - despite all its financial and operational woes - continued to gain subscribers in June as well. BSNL, which was the only mobile operator apart from Jio to add customers, gained 2.66 lakh users during June.

Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, which have introduced minimum recharge schemes in their quest to chase higher average revenues per user (ARPUs) and improve financials, have seen their subscriber base erode in the past months but the pace of subscriber loss appears to have slowed down in June.

For instance, Vodafone Idea had lost 56.97 lakh subscribers and Bharti Airtel 15.08 lakh users in May. These two operators have been locked in a bruising tariff war following the entry of Reliance Jio, backed by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani.

Jio's entry into the market dented the financial metrics of the operators, deepening the impact of regulatory decisions like cut in termination charges, even though the voice and data usage per se have been growing at a scorching pace.

Jio shook the mobile telephony market with free voice calls and dirt cheap data in 2016, and within three years became the largest telecom player in the market by revenue.

It is now hoping to repeat the feat in fixed line broadband space and has recently announced that 'Jio Fiber' will offer free voice calls for life from landlines, 100 mbps minimum broadband speed at subscription starting from Rs 700 a month and free HD TV set on a commitment to an annual plan.

As on June 30, 2019, Vodafone Idea had a subscriber market share of 32.9 per cent, Reliance Jio (28.42 per cent), and Bharti Airtel (27.49 per cent). PTI MBI

Reliance Jio pips Airtel to become India's 2nd Largest Mobile Operator in May: TRAI

Reliance Jio, the newest entrant in the telecom sector, has piped Bharti Airtel to become the second largest mobile operator with 32.29 crore subscribers and 27.80 per cent market share in May, according to regulator TRAI's data.

The move assumes significance as Reliance Jio stormed into the highly-competitive telecom sector in September 2016 with its disruptive voice and data offerings, while Bharti Airtel had launched its services way back in 1995.

As per the latest data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Vodafone Idea - born last year from the merger of older operators Vodafone India and Idea Cellular - continues to be the largest operator with 38.75 crore consumers and 33.36 per cent market share in the wireless segment as on May 31, 2019.

Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Airtel has slipped to the third spot with 32.03 crore mobile subscribers and 27.58 per cent subscriber market share during the month.

Reliance Jio added 81.80 lakh new subscribers (on a net basis) in May and ended the month with 27.80 per cent market share and 32.29 crore subscribers.

Interestingly, cash-strapped telecom PSU Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), that is awaiting a relief package from the government and has undertaken severe cost-cutting measures - added 2,125 wireless subscribers during May.

Established players like Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel - which have introduced minimum recharge schemes in their quest to chase higher ARPUs (average revenues per user) and improve financials - lost subscribers, at 56.97 lakh and 15.08 lakh users, respectively.

The change in pecking order in May contrasts with the rankings in April 2019 when Bharti Airtel was the second largest mobile operator with 32.18 crore subscribers and 27.69 per cent share of the overall wireless market. Reliance Jio, in April, had trailed the older operator and held the third spot with 31.48 crore subscribers and 27.08 market market share.

Vodafone Idea, in April too was the largest operator in India, by a wide margin, with 39.32 crore subscribers and 33.83 per cent of the overall wireless market, last month's data put out by TRAI showed. PTI MBI MBI

Denying Inter-connectivity to RJio Costed Rs 3,050 Cr to Airtel, Vodafone Idea

The telecom regulator is not in a position to modify its previously recommended penalty on Vodafone India and Idea Cellular (now merged) and Bharti Airtel as it is bound by the provisions of Trai Act, according to a senior Trai official.

Citing the clauses in the Act, the regulator recently informed the Department of Telecom (DoT) that it is "constrained from offering any further comments" on the matter and the Centre now has to take a final call on the issue.

The regulator has already given its views once in response to a back reference in 2017 by DoT, the Trai official said adding that as per the provisions in the Act there is no scope for any further modification.

The Act makes it clear that once a recommendation is referred back to Trai by DoT, the regulator has to within 15 days, forward to the central government its suggestions after considering the reference made by the government.

After receipt of further recommendation, if any, the Centre shall take a final decision, the Act says.

The official, who did not wish to be named, said pursuant to the October 2016 suggestions of Trai on the penalty to be imposed on the three operators, the recommendations were referred back by DoT on April 5, 2017 for reconsideration, to which Trai sent its views to the government on May 24, 2017.

Hence, after receiving "further recommendation" in response to the first back reference, the Centre has to take final decision on the matter, the official said explaining that Trai is unable to change the penalty it had suggested since it is bound by the provisions of the Act.

In October 2016, Trai had recommended imposing a total penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Airtel, Vodafone Idea for allegedly denying interconnectivity to newcomer Reliance Jio.

The penalty on Airtel and Vodafone works out to be about Rs 1,050 crore each. In case of Idea it comes to about Rs 950 crore. Since Vodafone and Idea have now merged their businesses, the new entity Vodafone Idea will have to bear the burden of both companies.

The Digital Communications Commission, the apex decision-making body of DoT, last month, approved imposing penalty on Airtel and Vodafone Idea for not providing points of interconnection to Reliance Jio.

Before imposing the penalty, however, the Commission decided to seek Trai's views on revising Rs 3,050 crore suggested penalty, citing the "present financial health of the sector". PTI MBI ABM ANU

TRAI Launches Web App to Let You Select TV Channels and Compute Monthly Rental

From February 1, watching TV is going to get cheaper as the new Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) rules will come into effect. This new Regulation for the Television and Broadcasting Sector will allow Consumers have the freedom to select Television (TV) Channels they want to watch.

Prior to the new rule coming into force, consumers need to know about the channels that are being offered, their individual prices, as well as channel bouquet pricing etc. To troubleshoot this confusion among TV consumers, TRAI has come up with a simple solution. The regulatory authority has launched a new web application which will help the subscribers to compute the monthly rental of their selected channels once the new rule comes into effect.

The new web application from the TRAI will simplify the channel selection process for DTH and cable users. The Channel Selector application will help the user optimize the selection of their choice and also inform them about the MRP (Maximum Retail Price) of their selection. The application navigates you through several simple steps and presents a list of channels based on the selections made by you. Once the selection of channels is done, the application will present you the monthly rental. The last date to move to the new DTH bouquet is January 31.

"With TRAI's New Regulation for the Television and Broadcasting Sector having come into force, Consumers have the freedom to select Television (TV) Channels they want to watch. This Application will help you optimize the selection of your choice and also inform you about the MRP (Maximum Retail Price) of your selection. However, for exercising the choice of your favourite channels, kindly visit the website of your TV service provider or get in touch with your cable operator," TRAI said on its website.

To use this application, visit this webpage of TRAI Website. Click on the 'Get Started' button at the bottom of the page, and simply reply to few questions to enter the channel selection page. Give TRAI your name, your state of residence, your TV viewing preferences, and then its presents a list of channels for you. Users can select the channels they want in their monthly plan here. TRAI will calculate your monthly rental based on your selection.

TRAI's web based Channel Selector application offers filters including price, HD/SD, genre, broadcaster, and language. You can modify your filter based on your requirements. The web application, on the View Selection page, also presents an Optimise button that will auto curate the channels and offer you the cheaper package.

Indian Mobile Industry Cry Foul Over Blockchain Implementation, Here're Few Benefits, Cost Savings To Comprehend

It all started in May-June this year when telecom regulator TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) moved a proposal to utilize blockchain technology for curbing irritating telemarketing spam call.

Thereafter, in last month TRAI notified the new guidelines for curbing spam calls and messages including the use of blockchain technology to ensure that all necessary regulatory pre-checks are carried out to control the flow of commercial communication

Under TRAI's new stringent unsolicited commercial communication rules, an individual can revoke permission that they have granted to any commercial entity for a service. In one of its guidelines, TRAI also permit mobile subscribers to set preference about days and time bands on which they would like to receive commercial communications as well as indicate preferred modes of communication -- call or SMS.

Now, within few days after the guidelines were issued, the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) -- as expected -- crying foul over cost of implementation, time-frame etcetera, etcetera.

According to COAI Director Rajan S Mathews, the new blockchain-based system has not been implemented elsewhere in the world, so it is difficult to quantify the exact investment or the time involved. He then roughly estimated that it will be in excess of Rs 200-400 crore investments for tailoring of such system with onvovement of blockchain technology.

Related Reading - COAI Demands Level Playing Field and Rules for 'Ease of Doing Business'

COAI, the industry body which represents Indian Mobile Service Providers (MSPs) including the "Big-4" (Pre-Jio) - Bharti Airtel Ltd, Idea Cellular Ltd and Vodafone India Ltd. Idea, and Vodafone, who together have had spent around Rs 1,000 crore in advertising, is unaware of the fact that a Mobile Service Provider can actually save whopping cost -- if not billions -- by implementing blockchain technology.

Benefits of Blockchain Implementation

Below are few long-term benefits of Blockchain usage in telecom/ mobile service provider industry, which may or may NOT fall in the purview of recent guidelines mandated by TRAI. But then again, its shouldn't be the case that an industry or sector should implement the emerging technologies only when mandated by government or regulatory body.

The impact of blockchain tech for telecom industry ultimately depends on how actively the adoption of use cases is driven by Mobile service providers. Although, there may be a need to facilitate blockchain benefits and to overcome the challenges that MSPs.

• A blockchain 'enabled' trust improves coordination between various partners, due to a shared view of transactions and liabilities. This in turn permits the elimination of third parties, resulting in cost savings.



• Implementation of smart contracts in roaming and other cases allows for near-instantaneous charging, thus leading to improved revenue assurance and fraud reduction.



• Potential to facilitate new business models for revenue generation for Communication Service Provider who are looking for new avenues to increase both top and bottom lines.

Benefits To IoT Ecosystem -

A blockchain can act as the ledger that enables, for example, an M2M economy to prosper based on the common platform available, in which M2M transactions can be recorded. It can thus act as the enabler for an IoT
ecosystem.

In conclusion, the benefits of adopting a blockchain in the core and auxiliary operations of a Communications Service Provider are plenty, as highlighted above. MSPs should take a long term view of blockchains and their potential to add value to the enterprise in both their current and new business models.

Losses Due To Spam Calls in India

According to Truecaller Insights 2017 report, a Truecaller user in India, on an average, receives 22.6 spam calls per month, which is the highest compared to 20 other countries plagued by spam calls. The report also highlighted that spam calls in India mostly originate from operators providing telecom services followed by companies providing financial services

The report further stated that Indian mobile users can save approximately 63 million hours a year by skipping spam calls, in turn saving India $414 million every year, which is Rs. 2,836 crore -- a far bigger amount then Rs.400 crore estimated by COAI Director Rajan S Mathews.

Conclusive Advice

Under recent TRAI guidlines, the regulator has raised the penalty cap on telecom operators by 10 folds to Rs 50 lakh in a month from Rs 5 lakh in previous regulations for violations of the norms, which is one of the main reasons the Indian mobile industry is crying foul. However, despite COAI defending the MSPs, the evidently visible truth is that India is indeed the world’s most spam-call plagued country so much so that just one (unnamed) telecom operator allowed jaw-dropping 31 Million telemarketing calls in 2017, according to the Truecaller report.

The spam hit country with largest mobile consumer base in the world can only be managed and consolidated to an ethical system of telecommunication when emerging technologies are being infused periodically and more sooner. The last regulation on spam calls and messages was mandated in 2010, so in this whole 8 years no mobile service provider adopted new technologies that could benefit the consumers; except and of course putting only mobile wallets and AI chatbots, in the name of new tech implementation or say evolution.

As with any new technology that holds the promise of significant disruption, there may be challenges to adoption of the blockchain tech. However, MSPs and industry body would do well to work together to enable the full realization of the blockchain benefits, just as many of the global financial institutions are currently doing (e.g. in the R3 Consortium). Working in a solo will limit the potential of blockchain.

References - Hindustan Times | Deloitte Report

[Top Image - ElevenNews.com]

TRAI Chief 'Data Leak Challenge' Fall Flat As His Aadhaar Data Got Leaked

You won't be surprised if you get to know that the chief of Indian telecom watchdog TRAI - R.S. Sharma, who is one of the biggest supporter of Aadhaar, has not linked his any of the bank accounts with the Aadhaar Number - 7621-7768-2740 and mobile number of his secretary is 9958587977 (open to pesky telemarketers !), and his WhatsApp profile picture is this.

Now if by any chance you are wandering how these details have gone public then the reason is Mr.Sharma himself, who earlier today threw a challenge on twitter, asking twitterati if they can harm his Aadhaar data. Ironically, within few hours people spilled the beans and made his personal data public over Twitter.

My Aadhaar number is 7621 7768 2740
Now I give this challenge to you: Show me one concrete example where you can do any harm to me!

— RS Sharma (@rssharma3) July 28, 2018

Popular french security expert, who goes by the nickname Elliot Alderson and had earlier too revealed the security loopholes in Aadhaar system, caused ripples on the social media when in a series of tweets he leaked "personal address, DoB, alternate phone number" and explaining to Mr Sharma, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman, how risky it was to make the Aadhaar number public.

One of the screenshots in Elliot's tweet even carried Mr.Sharma's PAN details. But that was hidden/blackened.

People managed to get your personal address, dob and your alternate phone number.

I stop here, I hope you will understand why make your #Aadhaar number public is not a good idea pic.twitter.com/IVrReb4xIM

— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) July 28, 2018

Earlier, the security researcher also busted the security flaws in 'Kimbho', a messaging app launched by Yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali, in May this year.

In March, Eliiot alleged and somewhat busted the fact that the official mobile app of Indian PM Narendra Modi is sending personal information of its users to a third party website.

India To Utilize Blockchain Tech To Curb Telemarketing Spam Calls You're Getting

India's telecom regulator TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) intends to utilize blockchain technology to curb irritating telemarketing spam call people in India are getting since cellphone become a new normal in the country, in early 2000.

TRAI has issued new draft norms to curb pesky calls and SMSs by using blockchain technology to ensure that telemarketing messages are sent only to those who have subscribed to them, and that too by authorized entities.

With this, TRAI is most likely the first organization to execute blockchain as a RegTech (regulatory technology), Trai Chairman RS Sharma told reporters. "Blockchain will ensure two things -- non repudiative and confidentiality. Only those authorized to access details will be able to access subscriber details and only when they need to deliver service... TRAI will become first organisation to implement this kind of regulation," he added.

With blockchain technology, the mobile phone users can report the communication and the data can quickly be matched utilizing the blockchain, even in those situations where a spammer utilizes a 10-digit number.

The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations 2018 draft will be open for public comment till June 11.

The new technology based norms will record all communication between subscribers and entities, capturing customer consent for information and authorized telemarketing agencies.

With new upcoming technology-based norms, all communication between subscribers and entities will be recorded, capturing customer consent for information and authorized telemarketing agencies.

Notably, 30 billion business messages are regularly sent out in India, of which numerous are unwanted. To date, 230 million subscribers have allegedly enrolled for TRAI’s “Do not disturb” registry which started in 2010. However, the country has so far failed to take action against telemarketers.

Explaining further about age-old problem of unsolicited calls to mobile phone customers, TRAI Secretary SK Gupta said, "It is learnt that many telemarketing firms get registered with telecom companies to obtain subscriber details. The new system will give access to only authorized agencies at the time they need to deliver service and details of only those subscribers who have agreed to receive the message."

"The digital record will show entire communication between entries involved."

The upcoming draft involving blockchain tech proposes to check misuse of repeated unsolicited calls being made even to those subscribers who have given consent.

"A subscriber may have given consent for a service but that consent is liable to be misused. Under the proposed regulation. The subscriber will be able to revoke consent given to entities whenever he or she desires through Trai app and other mechanism that will be provided under the regulation," Gupta said.

Last year, we covered various stories on how the blockchain is invading financial institutions like banks and electronic voting systems in several countries, including India.

Blockchain is blurring the lines between technology and nature through a new species called Plantoid, a new digital plant, which is designed to reproduce itself via transactions made on the blockchain.

The above news was first reported by Business Standard.

Top Image Via - SteemKR.com

India To Utilize Blockchain Tech To Curb Telemarketing Spam Calls You're Getting

India's telecom regulator TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) intends to utilize blockchain technology to curb irritating telemarketing spam call people in India are getting since cellphone become a new normal in the country, in early 2000.

TRAI has issued new draft norms to curb pesky calls and SMSs by using blockchain technology to ensure that telemarketing messages are sent only to those who have subscribed to them, and that too by authorized entities.

With this, TRAI is most likely the first organization to execute blockchain as a RegTech (regulatory technology), Trai Chairman RS Sharma told reporters. "Blockchain will ensure two things -- non repudiative and confidentiality. Only those authorized to access details will be able to access subscriber details and only when they need to deliver service... TRAI will become first organisation to implement this kind of regulation," he added.

With blockchain technology, the mobile phone users can report the communication and the data can quickly be matched utilizing the blockchain, even in those situations where a spammer utilizes a 10-digit number.

The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations 2018 draft will be open for public comment till June 11.

The new technology based norms will record all communication between subscribers and entities, capturing customer consent for information and authorized telemarketing agencies.

With new upcoming technology-based norms, all communication between subscribers and entities will be recorded, capturing customer consent for information and authorized telemarketing agencies.

Notably, 30 billion business messages are regularly sent out in India, of which numerous are unwanted. To date, 230 million subscribers have allegedly enrolled for TRAI’s “Do not disturb” registry which started in 2010. However, the country has so far failed to take action against telemarketers.

Explaining further about age-old problem of unsolicited calls to mobile phone customers, TRAI Secretary SK Gupta said, "It is learnt that many telemarketing firms get registered with telecom companies to obtain subscriber details. The new system will give access to only authorized agencies at the time they need to deliver service and details of only those subscribers who have agreed to receive the message."

"The digital record will show entire communication between entries involved."

The upcoming draft involving blockchain tech proposes to check misuse of repeated unsolicited calls being made even to those subscribers who have given consent.

"A subscriber may have given consent for a service but that consent is liable to be misused. Under the proposed regulation. The subscriber will be able to revoke consent given to entities whenever he or she desires through Trai app and other mechanism that will be provided under the regulation," Gupta said.

Last year, we covered various stories on how the blockchain is invading financial institutions like banks and electronic voting systems in several countries, including India.

Blockchain is blurring the lines between technology and nature through a new species called Plantoid, a new digital plant, which is designed to reproduce itself via transactions made on the blockchain.

The above news was first reported by Business Standard.

Top Image Via - SteemKR.com

Wi-Fi Services on Flights in India Gets Clearance

Data surfing, internet access via WiFi as well as in-flight voice calls will soon become a reality in India as the Telecom Commission on Tuesday has approved in-flight connectivity, facilitating both voice and data calls and data surfing in Indian airspace.

The implementation and operationalization of these services on flights in India will take about
3-4 months. At first, the telecom department will start the process of framing licence terms for in-flight connectivity (IFC) providers and then invite applications. Thereafter, airlines also need time to put equipments in aircrafts to provide such services.

“We will now have to create a separate category of licensees called in-flight connectivity provider. These will provide internet as well as voice services within Indian territorial airspace... in both domestic and international flights,” telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters.

Notably, these services are permitted with minimum height restriction of 3,000 metres in Indian airspace for its compatibility with terrestrial mobile networks.

However, the WiFi or calls in flights will not be free and the telecom department will leave the pricing of these services to the airlines. The pricing could be part of ticket or charged separately to passengers.

According to experts, the cost to the passenger may be on the higher side, initially

It is to be noted that In-flight connectivity is much more expensive than on-ground connectivity, which we use in our homes and offices. Most airlines charge based on use -- whether wifi is used on phone, tablet, or laptop.

The IFC service provider are permitted to use either Indian Satellite System or foreign satellite capacity leased through Department of Space or foreign satellites outside INSAT systems in the Indian airspace.

Gogo, a popular US-based IFC service provider that gives service to 17 airlines, offers a 'monthly airlines plan', valid on domestic flights in the US, Canada and Mexico.

According to Honeywell Aerospace, the global market for connected aircraft is pegged at $7 billion, and also forecast a rapid wifi adoption by nearly 25,000 planes by 2025.

The above development was first reported in Live Mint.

Wi-Fi Services on Flights in India Gets Clearance

Data surfing, internet access via WiFi as well in-flight voice calls will soon become a reality in India as the Telecom Commission on Tuesday has approved in-flight connectivity, facilitating both voice and data calls and data surfing in Indian airspace.

The implementation and operationalization of these services on flights in India will take about
3-4 months. At first, the telecom department will start the process of framing licence terms for in-flight connectivity (IFC) providers and then invite applications. Thereafter, airlines also need time to put equipments in aircrafts to provide such services.

“We will now have to create a separate category of licencees called in-flight connectivity provider. These will provide internet as well as voice services within Indian territorial airspace... in both domestic and international flights,” telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters.

Notably, these services are permitted with minimum height restriction of 3,000 metres in Indian airspace for its compatibility with terrestrial mobile networks.

However, the WiFi or calls in flights will not be free and the telecom department will leave the pricing of these services to the airlines. The pricing could be part of ticket or charged separately to passengers.

According to experts, the cost to the passenger may be on the higher side, initially

It is to be noted that In-flight connectivity is much more expensive than on-ground connectivity, which we use in our homes and offices. Most airlines charge based on use -- whether wifi is used on phone, tablet, or laptop.

The IFC service provider are permitted to use either Indian Satellite System or foreign satellite capacity leased through Department of Space or foreign satellites outside INSAT systems in the Indian airspace.

Gogo, a popular US-based IFC service provider that gives service to 17 airlines, offers a 'monthly airlines plan', valid on domestic flights in the US, Canada and Mexico.

According to Honeywell Aerospace, the global market for connected aircraft is pegged at $7 billion, and also forecast a rapid wifi adoption by nearly 25,000 planes by 2025.

The above development was first reported in Live Mint.