Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

14.06.2016

Media and Communication

TRAI seeks review of voice mail, audiotex and UMS licences

MANU/TRAI/0049/2016

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India introduced a paper discussing the need to licence provision of voice mail, conference call and unified messaging services.

The licensing framework dates back to 1996 and last received operational updates in 2004.

With the proliferation of mobile telephony and expansive growth in telecom infrastructure across the country, the original intent of the services - to facilitate communication in patchy telecom service - was left redundant.

However, the previous year witnessed unforeseen manipulation of the framework: use of “multi-party conferencing and illegal bypass of STD/ISD traffic of licences access service providers. Specifically, an application called Ringo used loopholes in the licence to offer dramatically cheaper rates on connections between two mobile phones. The service soon went into hiatus, not for illegality, rather uproar from telecom service providers.

Written comments are being by the Authority received till 11 July 2016.

Tags : trai voice mail telecom conference call ringo

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