In an encouraging move that may deliver a vital thrust into the
investment-intensive, yet cash-stripped Indian telecom sector, the
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in its recommendations
dated 13 March 2020 (Recommendations) has proposed that
'passive' telecom infrastructure providers registered with
the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) as Infrastructure
Provider Category – I (IP-I), should be allowed to
'own' certain active telecom infrastructure, for
establishing and providing to 'eligible service providers'.
Presently, IP-I entities are not allowed to own 'active'
elements.
Although inconsistent with the current regulatory framework,
TRAI has touted its Recommendations as a gamechanger and a catalyst
for unburdening the telecom industry, if accepted by DoT. In
TRAI's view, effective utilisation of telecom resources by
encouraging IP-I entities (instead of each telecom service provider
(TSP) separately) to incur deployment and maintenance costs
