how same issues have been tackled elsewhere russell southwood balancing act http: // e-mail:...
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How same issues have been tackled elsewhere
Russell Southwood
Balancing Act
http: //www.balancingact-africa.com
e-mail: [email protected]
“Consultation paper on “Measures to promote competition in International Private Leased Circuits (IPLC) in India”, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, June 2005
Source: www.trai.gov.in
The Indian context
Intro’d competition in international long distance in 2002.
International tariffs not come down “to levels witnessed in other countries in Asia reflecting the lack of effective competition in the market.”
Landing station controlled by VSNL had become a “bottleneck facility”. Cables financed by club consortia. Others paying charges to VSNL
Representations to the regulator Higher and commercially non-competitive
charges for international bandwidth hampering growth of broadband and internet
Non-permissability of reselling international bandwidth
Complaints from competitor international operators about co-location of equipment
BPO and ITES sectors unable to obtain competitive bandwidth
Methods used by regulators
Fixing ceiling tariffs with reference to international benchmarks and general trends
Permitting reseller market, essentially non-facility based operators
Removing barriers for access to cable landing stations Facilitating mutual sharing of landing station
infrastructure and international capacity amongst carriers
TRAI has fixed ceiling tariff but “tariffs in other countries still appear to be lower”
Examples from elsewhere In general: “…have forced various obligations on
incumbents owning submarine cable system”. Have applied general interconnect
agreement/directives. Reference Interconnect Offer Hong Kong: HTKI access and co-location at landing
station or virtual co-location France: Need to ensure equal access to international
facilities for all operators Canada: Teleglobe under obligation to share monopoly
facility in non-discriminatory and fair manner Singapore: To ensure more competition, wholesale intl
on “retail-minus” basis with specified discounts