Senior bureaucrat P D Vaghela appointed TRAI chairman, says DoPT

 Senior bureaucrat P D Vaghela was on Monday appointed as chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), according to a Personnel Ministry order.

Vaghela, a 1986-batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, is currently Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals. He has been appointed as the TRAI chief for three years or till he attains the age of 65, the order said.

Vaghela was due to retire on Wednesday.

He will succeed R S Sharma, who completes his tenure on Wednesday.

Sharma was in 2015 appointed as the TRAI chairman for three years. In August 2018, his term was extended till September 30, 2020.

Trai blocks Airtel, Vodafone Idea plans promising faster data speeds

The telecom regulator has asked Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea to put on hold specific plans that promised faster speeds to certain priority users, as it questioned whether the network preference came at the cost of deterioration of services for other subscribers.
A source said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked the two operators to withhold the specific plan for the interim period.

The TRAI has written to the two operators -- Airtel and Vodafone Idea -- and questioned them about their individual plans that promised faster speeds to certain priority users.
The regulator has asked if priority to high-paying customers in those specific plans came at the cost of service deterioration for other subscribers. It has asked the operators how they are protecting the interest of other general subscribers.
When contacted, an Airtel spokesperson said: "We are passionate about delivering the best network and service experience to all our customers."
"This is why we have a relentless obsession to eliminate faults and have been consistently recognised by international agencies as the best network in terms of speed, latency and video experience.
"At the same time, we want to keep raising the bar for our post-paid customers in terms of service and responsiveness. This is an ongoing effort at our end," the Airtel spokesperson added.
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The Bharti Airtel had announced last Monday that it would give preference to platinum mobile customers, who pay Rs 499 and above per month for postpaid connection, on its 4G network.
The platinum customers will get better 4G speed on the Airtel network compared to other customers.
TRAI has given Airtel seven days to respond to its questions, a person privy to the development said.
In the case of Vodafone Idea, the company had launched a postpaid plan, REDX, promising up to 50 per cent faster data speeds, besides other benefits and privileges.
Asked about TRAI's latest move, a Vodafone Idea spokesperson said: "Vodafone RedX plan offers a range of benefits including unlimited data, calls, premium content, international roaming pack etc. for our valued postpaid customers who want more."
"VIL is committed to serve its customers with the best in class offerings and high-speed 4G data across all markets. VIL's fastest 4G speed in many markets, including metros, has been verified by global testing agencies, such as Ookla and OpenSignal amongst others," the VIL spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, a VIL source, who did not wish to be named, said the company was taken aback at the TRAI's letter over the weekend asking it to block the plan without any opportunity to respond on an important matter such as tariff.
The company source said that the RedX plan was filed with TRAI in November and further modifications to the plan were, once again, duly filed in May. The plan has been in the market for last eight months and customers are already on-boarded.
The VIL source said the company was of the view that there was no violation of tariff regulation on this plan.

Telecom tariff: Trai to review transparency in publishing of offers

In a bid to protect consumer interest, the telecom regulator on Wednesday initiated a fresh consultation on the issue of transparency in publishing tariff offers by telecom operators.
The move came after Trai received a significant number of complaints from individual consumers on lack of transparency in disclosure of tariff information.

"Therefore, it is felt that a comprehensive review of extant provisions aimed at transparency relating to flow of information from telecom service providers to consumers, is essential," Trai said in a statement.
Accordingly, a consultation paper has been floated with objective of empowering consumers by making all relevant information available to them and to eliminate instances of adverse choices made by consumers, it added.
Sources said that the consultation paper was not related to floor price and related issues, and deals with the specific aspect of communication of tariff offerings by telcos to subscribers.

Trai to settle call ring time in 2 weeks even as telecom war gets ugly

Telecom regulator Trai will finalise, in next two weeks, its views on call ring time - a contentious issue on which old and new operators have locked horns.
On the controversial issue of Jio's latest allegations that rival telcos are fraudulently masking fixed-line as mobile calls for undue enrichment and should be slapped with penalty, a senior Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) official said the matter will be examined just as all complaints to the authority are.

"Any complaint that generally comes to us will be examined... If there is any violation, we will look into the matter..." the official said.
Reliance Jio has accused old operators including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea of "illegally" masquerading wire-line numbers as mobile numbers for "undue enrichment" and has exhorted Trai to slap "severest penalty" on them for violating regulations and licensing norms.
Bharti Airtel has hit back saying Jio is trying to misguide the regulator ahead the consultation on call connect charges (also called interconnect usage charges.

Trai chief Ram Sewak Sharma reappointed, will serve till Sept 2020

TRAI chief Ram Sewak Sharma, whose tenure saw major decisions on issues like termination charges and predatory pricing, was today given two-year extension, a day before his term was to end, according to an official order.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved reappointment of Sharma as chairperson of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for a further period beyond August 10, 2018 upto September 30, 2020, i.e. the date on which he attains the age of 65 years, the order issued by the Personnel Ministry said.

He was in July 2015 named as the TRAI chief for a three-year period.
Sharma, a 1982 batch (retired) IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, was recently in news as he had disclosed his Aadhaar number on the microblogging site Twitter and threw an open challenge to people to show how mere knowledge of the 12-digit unique number could be used to harm him.
The move had caused a social media flutter as he was criticised by many for throwing such a challenge.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which issues Aadhaar, had thereafter asked people not to share their unique identification number publicly or pose such challenges to others.
Some of the decisions by the TRAI, ranging from slashing of call-connect charges to its stance on the provision of points of interconnect (sought by Reliance Jio at the start of its services), and predatory pricing rules have come under the industry's attack.
Earlier this year, TRAI's predatory pricing norms sparked-off a furore as old telecom operators and industry association criticised the new rules.
More recently, industry body COAI raised a red flag over TRAI's new regulations on curbing pesky calls and messages, saying tailoring of systems, and use of blockchain technology will involve Rs 200-400 crore investment and 18 months for the rollout, at a time when the sector is financially-stressed.
Before becoming TRAI chief, Sharma worked as Information Technology secretary. He has been credited for playing a key role in implementing Aadhaar project. He worked as the Director General and Mission Director in the UIDAI.
Sharma is credited to have designed key digital services, such as digital locker, and for fast execution of schemes to push electronics manufacturing in the country.