Indian regulator Trai has indicated it may delay the start of 'bill and keep' in the country from the planned date of 01 January 2020. In a public consultation, Trai said there was still an imbalance in on- and off-net traffic that may mean interconnection charges are justified.
At the last reduction of interconnection charges in 2017, the regulator had set a deadline for end-2019 to end interconnection charging. Under the bill and keep system, operators agree to terminate each other calls without any net fees. The regulator's expectation was that most calls would have moved to packet switching by 2020, meaning the cost of terminating calls would be near nil.
However, the regulator's research shows the switch to IP has not gone as fast as expected, and there may still be a need to correct the traffic imbalances in the market via interconnection fees. As a result, it launched a consultation asking for market feedback on changing the date for switching to the 'bill and keep' system. Interested parties can comment until 18 October.
Trai also announced another consultation on proposals to unify the fixed and mobile numbering plans. This is needed to ensure the rapid growth in mobile users is met, as the previous numbering plans projected demand for 2030 was already met in 2009. Comments can be submitted until 21 October.
