TRAI reaffirms stance on RCOM interconnection

The Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has reiterated its ruling that GSM operators, including Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Vodafone Essar, must provide interconnection to Reliance Communications’ (RCOM) GSM network. Indian news source The Economic Times is reporting that the regulator has set a deadline of 21 August for compliance, with the move coming in response to refusal to open links by GSM operators. The contention stems from the current GSM players insistence that RCOM should negotiate new commercial terms for interconnection, as the currents deals only cover its CDMA network. The TRAI has rejected these claims, also confirming that it may consider criminal proceedings should the GSM operators fail to comply within the specified timeframe.