• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

G. Rambabu

New Delhi , Aug. 13

THE 32-lakh limited mobility (WLL) customers, who heaved a sigh of relief on hearing that the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has finally given the legal sanction to the service, are in for some disappointment.

While they can continue to use their handset for making and receiving voice calls, other value added services such as the popular SMS, downloading of ring-tones, video clips and call-forwarding could well be barred, starting next week.

The tribunal has scheduled a hearing on August 19, what is commonly known as the "V5.2" case, which will be the deciding factor in this respect. Although the cellular operators filed the case in early 2002, the tribunal had put off taking a decision until it completed the process of the original petition regarding the legality of the WLL service itself. Now that the WLL case has been shut, it will be the turn of the V5.2 case.

Simply stated and shorn of any technological details, the case is as follows:

The WLL service is restricted to a short distance charging area (SDCA) and unlike the normal cellular connection; a customer cannot make or receive calls beyond this area. A call made to a WLL handset is first received by a base station controller (BSC). From the BSC, they are beamed to the base stations (commonly known as towers) which are located at different points. From here, the signal is beamed to the handset. For outgoing calls, the process is similarly reversed. The protocol for interfacing the BSC with the exchange has various technologies, one of which is the V5.2 format.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in its licence to the basic operators had specified that the system should be so engineered that handover of subscriber does not take place from one SDCA to another while communicating. It should be done so on an access network protocol based on national standards for V5.2 format or "an approved improved version with latest technology".

The department later clarified that it was not the intention to limit the protocol to V5.2 but the basic operators are at liberty to use any other latest technology for achieving the same purpose.

Since the V5.2 protocol does not support the value added services such as SMS, downloading of ring-tones, video clips and call forwarding, operators such as Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices deployed the more advanced mobile switching centre (MSC) architecture in their network. This was objected to by the cellular operators who approached the TDSAT to stop them from doing so.

The DoT in its counter-affidavit has stated that the V5.2 format does not directly restrict mobility. For restricting mobility there are other limitations, which require to be built into the system, which ensure that the authentication signal is not transferred outside the SDCA.

If the tribunal does rule in favour of the cellular operators, it would mean that the WLL can no longer offer the value added services that they are offering their customers. However, given the fact that the operators have invested heavily in deploying the MSC architecture instead of the conventional V5.2 protocol, they will appeal against any unfavourable decision to the Supreme Court. The WLL controversy is far from over. The hiccups for the subscribers have only just begun.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
TRAI to issue consultation paper on level playing field

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line