In the draft recommendations unveiled on Tuesday, Trai<\/a> said that a telecom service provider (TSP) should be allowed to take on board test subscribers in the trial phase to carry out the network testing before commercial launch of services.
“The authority recommends that there should be no restriction on the time-limit, if the network testing is conducted using wireline telephone test connections given to employees and business partners for test purpose only,” it said.
Trai however limited the number of test subscribers that can be enrolled by an operator in a circle to 5% of its installed network capacity for that area.
“The service provider will submit the detailed capacity calculations of the network to DoT<\/a> and Trai at least 15 days before commencing enrolment of test subscribers,” Trai said.
The draft recommendations also said that there should be a limit of 90 days on the test phase involving test subscribers.
“However, if the TSP fails to conclude network testing due to valid reasons, it may make a representation to the licensor, seeking additional time for network testing giving detailed justification, which may be decided by the licensor on a case-to-case basis. The requisite norms to be followed for extension of timeline for network testing may be formulated by the licensor,” the regulator said.
The maximum time limit for network testing provided to the operator should be 180 days, Trai said in the draft suggestions.
According to Trai data as of October end, India had some 21.45 million wireline subscribers, compared with 1.18 billion mobile phone users. The wireline segment is led by state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) with 46.64% customer market share, followed by Bharti Airtel with a 20.06% share and state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. with 14.77% share.
Trai sought stakeholder views on its suggestions that are modelled on the guidelines that it had previously suggested for trials of mobile services.
“Most of the issues raised during the consultation process for the norms for network testing before commercial launch for mobile services, are equally applicable for wireline access services,” Trai said.
“However, as per the reference received from the Department of Telecom (DoT<\/a>), this consultation paper on draft recommendations is issued to solicit the views of the stakeholders for specifying the norms of network testing before commercial launch of services for wireline access services,” the regulator added.
Trai said that written comments on its latest paper should be submitted by January 30, 2020, and counter-comments by February 13, 2020.
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