The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is “in blatant violation” of its transparency obligations under the TRAI Act for failing to invite stakeholder comments on the topic of a levelling field for terrestrial access services, Justice L Nageswara Rao, former Supreme Court Judge, has said in his legal opinion. The opinion was sought by Reliance Jio in the wake of the ongoing consultation paper on the satellite communication (satcomm) spectrum.

“The consultation paper issued by TRAI seems to have completely sidestepped the issue of level playing field with terrestrial access services. This has resulted in deprivation of opportunities for the stakeholders to provide comments and for the TRAI to engage in robust consultations before providing recommendations, as specifically requested by the DoT. Thus, it can be conclusively said that by not inviting comments on the aspect of level playing field with terrestrial access services, the TRAI is in blatant violation of its transparency obligations under Section 11(4) of the TRAI Act,” said Rao.

In October, Reliance Jio had commented that TRAI’s paper overlooked the need for a level playing field between satellite and terrestrial networks while also raising concerns regarding spectrum pricing and the preference for administrative allocation of spectrum over auctions.

Regarding the latter, Rao asked that the government remove satellite-based services from the list of entries allocated via the administrative process. He noted that the list of these entries is unfrozen in the Telecom Act due to the dynamic nature of the services. Further, Rao said the government should have sought comments from stakeholders on the consultation paper as Sections 4 and 5 of the Telecom Act allowed the government to amend the list of entries.

“Sections 11(4) of the TRAI Act requires the TRAI to ensure transaprency while exercising its powers and discharging its functions,” said Rao.

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