India’s present 3G roaming provisions have far-reaching security implications, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said.
In a recent communication with the Department of Telecom, TRAI said that the roaming arrangements ensure seamless connectivity for short-term mobility of subscribers from the home network to any visitor network on which their telecom operator does not have its network, but “the present arrangement allows subscribers to remain permanently on visitors’ network, thereby defeating the very purpose of roaming arrangements.”
“This will have a bearing on the security aspects of telecom services, as the Telecom Service Provider would not have access to its own applicable system in the visitor’s networks for lawful interception,” the telecom regulator added.
TRAI also said that the arrangement violates the terms and conditions of the license.
The DoT’s Wireless Planning and Finance unit has also highlighted the adverse implications of 3G roaming provisions in unified access service license agreements.
“Operators like Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Aircel are currently paying spectrum charges as per pre-revised rate in respect of 2G services, in spite of offering ‘higher cost’ 3G services through an agreement with 3G spectrum holding licensees. The note asserts that this will have a negative impact on the revenue of DoT,” the unit said in an internal note.
The unit added that the current arrangement could promote cartelization during future spectrum auctions, which would seriously hurt DoT revenue.
