• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

Cell operators' concern over draft FSP licence agreement

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, July 10

THE Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has expressed its concern that the draft licence agreement for fixed service providers (FSPs) provides no safeguard to ensure a difference between WLL limited mobility services and cellular mobile servic es.

In a letter to the Department of Telecommunication (DoT), Mr. T V Ramachandran, Director-General, COAI, has noted that as per the licence agreement, ``the access systems used by them would be based on V5.2 interface or an improved version with latest tec hnology''.

``There is no safeguard to ensure that the WLL system will follow a PSTN architecture, which is as per the letter and spirit of both the Government policy and the TRAI recommendations which clearly intend that a clear service differentiation be maintaine d between WLL (M) and cellular mobile services'', the letter notes.

Mr. Ramachandran further notes that in its determination on monthly rental, TRAI had opined that it ``is of the view that in order to maintain a clear distinction between WLL (M) and cellular mobile service with full mobility, the former ie. WLL (M) ser vice should not be engineered based on mobile exchange and a PLMN configuration''.

``We apprehend that without a clear stipulation that the wireless access systems used by FSPs must conform to a PSTN architecture, there is a very real danger that the FSPs could use this opportunity to gain a backdoor entry into mobile services and att empt to provide cellular mobile services under the guise of latest technology''.

This would defeat the fundamental objective of both the Government and TRAI that a clear service differentiation be maintained between WLL (M) and cellular mobile services, the letter said.

The COAI DG notes that since the Government has accepted in toto the TRAI recommendation on WLL-based mobile services, DoT must ensure that the draft FSP licence agreement should clearly stipulate the wireless access systems used by FSPs shall bear no se mblance whatsoever to a PLMN architecture as operated by CMTS ie. the use of an mobile switching centre (MSC) should be specifically prohibited and conformance to a PSTN architecture must be ensured by the use of a V5.2 interface to connect an access nod e to a local exchange of PSTN.