Trai to Be Renamed as Digital Communications Regulatory Authority of India

New Delhi: The name of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will be changed to Digital Communications Regulatory Authority of India, telecom minister Manoj Sinha on Wednesday said.

"Now I should address you as Digital Communications Regulator ," Sinha told Trai Chairman RS Sharma from dais at Annual General Meeting of telecom infrastructure body TAIPA.

When asked from when will new name of Trai, Digital Communications Regulatory Authority of India, will be effective, Sinha said "It will be done soon".

The minister earlier in the day shared change in name of Telecom Commission-- apex decision making body at the Department of Telecom, to Digital Communications Commission.

At the event Sinha said telecom infrastructure have played vital role in development of telecom market in the country by " enabling rapid roll out of tower from mere 1 lakh in 2006 to 4.71 lakh currently".

He said that the new policy , National Digital Communications Policy 2018 addresses the growth need of telecom sector in the country.

Sharma said NDCP 2018 is transformational in the sense it lays down quilantifiable objective -USD 100 billion investment, 50 Mbps download speeds.

"NDCP talks about creating tower authority. The policy very clearly lays down to prepare India for digital tomorrow," Sharma said.

He said that as a nation while we are transporting data, and 93 per cent of it is done on wireless networks.

"That is why telecom infrastructure is important. Therefore it is appropriate that we put together all our efforts, if you want to be ready for 5G, you need to put massive infrastructure," Sharma said

TAIPA Chairman Akhil Gupta said that 5G infrastructure will require 100 and 1000s of more tower. Many of them will be small cell.

He requested minister to convene high level conference of Minister and IT secretaries of state.

"We are still being treated as cash cows by many local authorities. If these can be changed...That would enable us smooth roll out of infrastructure," Gupta said.

Department of Telecom Special Secretary N Sivasailam asked industry to provide GIS location of optical fiber for it to be given legal protection.

"There are no Right of Way charges what us charged is restoration charges. We take permission for 3 feet but dig 4 meters that is where problem lies," Sivasailam said.

He said that when states raise integrity questio, the DoT becomes speechless.

"States are going to gain most from RoW but once you destroy their property we dont have any moral right," Sivasailam said.