TRAI accepts MIB suggestions on renewal of MSOs registration

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued its response to the back-reference received from the Ministry of information & Broadcasting (MIB) regarding its earlier recommendations on Renewal of Multi-System Operators (MSOs) Registration. 

After examination, TRAI has finalized its response to the back-reference by agreeing to the comments and suggested modifications of MIB. 

In the recommendation letter, the Authority recommended that all such registrations, which have either expired or about to expire within the next eight months from the date of implementation of decision of MIB w.r.t renewal of MSO registration, should be deemed to expire  after eight months from the date of implementation of rules/guidelines for renewal. On this recommendation, MIB suggested modification and said that the issue of extension of validity of registration of MSOs which have either expired or about to expire till decision on ‘Renewal Procedure’ is implemented was duly considered in the ministry. MIB commented that to ensure continuity of services offered by the MSOs, it has been decided by the competent authority that MIB may seek details like number of subscribers to check whether the MSO is operational and filled in security clearance form to get the necessary security inputs from M/O Home Affairs and may grant temporary extension, subject to compliance of terms and conditions of MSO registration and receipt of security clearance from M/o Home affairs. Accordingly, the above details were sought from MSOs who were expecting the expiry of their MSO registration. 

“Only those MSOs who had either furnished the above details or made a request before MIB for renewal of registration were granted temporary extension subject to relevant necessary compliance and security clearance from M/o Home Affairs. The MSO Registrations of those who had not furnished above details or made any request for renewal were allowed to expire. At present the Ministry has granted temporary extension till 30-06-2023 on the applicable cases,” commented MIB. 

The authority informed that it has accepted the suggested model. However, MIB may ensure that all the MSOs concerned are informed well before the expiry of their registration for the renewal process while seeking requisite details. The communication to the MSOs must clearly mention that if the requisite details are not submitted in the specified time, it will be presumed that the MSO concerned is not seeking renewal of registration and that their registration will expire. 

In its recommendations, TRAI also mentioned that every renewal application shall be referred to the Authority for confirmation to compliance of extant rules and regulations. The process of seeking confirmation of compliance may be online through Broadcast Seva Portal. The Authority will provide explicit instances of non-compliance if such is the case within fifteen days of online referral. For the purposes of transparency and clarity, TRAT shall release a detailed circular on its website which shall contain the specifics of the review process and grounds of such review by TRAI. If the Authority does not respond within fifteen days of such referral, then the compliance from the regulator may be considered as deemed confirmation."

On the above recommendation, MIB suggested that the renewal of registration of an MSO under the CTN Act, 1995 is a quasi-judicial process. The Registering Authority is required to grant the opportunity of being heard before denying registration. The decision of the Registering Authority is appealable before the Central Government. 

MIB said that the compliance to TRAI regulation, guidelines and orders are part of terms and conditions of registration granted to an MSO. Hence, TRAI may share instances of non-compliance at any point of time and MIB may take action as per the provisions of CTN Act and Rules. It is suggested that the process of TRAI sharing the details of defaulter MSOs with MIB for necessary action should continue to be followed and the same should not be mixed specifically with the process of renewal of registration. 

TRAI accepts MIB response and said that TRAI will continue to send the details of noncompliance of MSOs at regular intervals

TRAI further said that MIB in its back reference has not commented on any of the remaining recommendations. Therefore, it is presumed that MIB has accepted remaining recommendations on 'Renewal of Multi-System Operators (MSOs) Registration'.