New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is planning to bring value added services under the licensing regime and is preparing a consultation paper to regulate the VAS industry.
TRAI Chairman J S Sarma told the Internet and Marketing Association of India’s Fifth India Digital Media Summit today that the regulator would also be making recommendations during this week relating to the National Broadband Plan which is now under finalization by the Communications and Information Technology Ministry.
IAMAI President Shubho Ray welcomed the move to introduce licensing of VAS players, saying regulation will organize the VAS sector and will bring investment in the industry.
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Dr Sarma said a national agency will be set up that will aid the smooth roll-out of the National Broadband Policy to ensure comprehensive development of the ecosystem for growth of digital media in India,.
In a consultation paper earlier, the regulator had expressed concern over the low broadband penetration in India, and said that the broadband tariffs being offered by operators are still high due to a lack of competition. TRAI had also felt that the cost of international bandwidth is high compared to other markets, which is coming in the way of cheaper broadband services.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has also made a reference to TRAI seeking its recommendations on the need to review the definition of broadband connectivity in view of future growth in Internet/broadband driven by wireless technologies.
