TRAI announces fee for reselling bandwidth

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has proposed that an entry fee of Rs. 1 crore and a bank guarantee of the same amount for companies in India which wants to resell bandwidth in the country after purchasing it in bulk from international players.

Several players in the market are interested in providing such bandwidth to entities like banks, IT firms and BPOs. TRAI’s aim is to promote competition in this new segment in the market. They are also in favor of not implementing any ceiling on the number of players who can be in this segment.

This new TRAI proposal would encourage telecom companies in the country to get into this new line of business and provide services to retail customers such as software exporters, call centers, banks, SMEs, internet service providers and other IT-enabled services.

TRAI added in their proposal that any company who wants to join this network should have a net worth as well as paid-up capital of Rs. 2.50 crore. They have also in addition suggested a license fee at six per cent of adjusted gross revenues.