TRAI

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

"TRAI" redirects here. For other uses, see TRAI (disambiguation).

Telecom Regulatory Authority of IndiaRegulatory agency overviewFormed20 February 1997; 19 years agoJurisdictionIndiaHeadquartersMahanagar Doorsanchar Bhawan, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg (Old Minto Road), New DelhiRegulatory agencyexecutives

R. S. Sharma, ChairmanSudhir Gupta, Secretary^[1]

Key document

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997

Websitewww.trai.gov.in

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) is the regulator of thetelecommunications sector in India.^[2]

History

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India was established on 20 February 1997 by an Act of Parliament to regulate telecom services and tariffs in India. Earlier regulation of telecom services and tariffs was overseen by the Central Government.

TRAI's mission is to create and nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications in India to enable the country to have a leading role in the emerging global information society.^[3]

One of its main objectives is to provide a fair and transparent environment that promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition in the market. TRAI regularly issues orders and directions on various subjects such as tariffs, interconnections, quality of service, Direct To Home (DTH) services and mobile number portability.

In January 2016, TRAI introduced an important change in telecommunication that would benefit all consumers. Effective from 1 January 2016, consumers will be compensated for call drops. However, there is a catch, per the rule, mobile users will get a compensation of Re 1 for every dropped call but it will be limited to a maximum three dropped calls in a day. This regulation has been quashed by Supreme Court on the ground of being "unreasonable, arbitrary and unconstitutional".^[4]

Secretariat

TRAI is administered through a Secretariatheaded by a secretary. All proposals are processed by the secretary, who organises the agenda for Authority meetings (consulting with the Chairman), prepares the minutes and issues regulations in accordance to the meetings. The secretary is assisted byadvisors. These include Mobile Network, Interconnection and Fixed Network, BroadBand and Policy Analysis, Quality of Service, Broadcasting & Cable Services, Economic Regulation, Financial Analysis & IFA, Legal, Consumer Affairs & International Relation and Administration & Personnel. Officers are selected from the premier Indian Telecommunications Service and also from the Indian Administrative Service.^[5]
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