TRAI Releases Consultation Paper On Issues Related To Interconnection Regulation

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India issued a consultation paper on issues related to the Interconnection Regulation 2017.

TRAI has received representations from quite a few regional broadcasters wherein they have highlighted their concerns regarding the declaration of the target market by distributors of television channels, the telecom regulator said.

The existing regulations provide freedom to the distribution platform operators to declare their target market for the purpose of ascertaining the carriage fee. Some of the DPOs have declared multiple states or entire country in some cases as their target market, TRAI said.

"In such cases these regional broadcasters are required to pay very high carriage fee. Not only does this put undesired financial burden on regional broadcasters, it makes them prone to undue arm twisting by the distributors, as their subscription continues to remain lower than the minimum prescribed threshold of 5 percent, which is the limit under which a DPO is not mandated to carry any channel," it said.

The objective of this consultation process is to review the provisions of the existing Interconnection Regulation 2017 and consult all the stakeholders on issues related to target market, placement and other agreements between broadcasters and distributors.

TRAI invited written comments on the consultation paper are invited from the stakeholders by Oct. 23.