TRAI Future Planning: TRAI says that like spectrum, phone numbers are owned by the government. The government gives telecom companies the right to use these numbers only during the license.
TRAI News: Big news is coming for mobile phone users after the elections. Yes, your phone operator i.e. the company running the phone can charge for your smartphone and landline number. If the proposal of telecom regulator TRAI is implemented, then this system will be implemented soon. TRAI feels that phone numbers are ‘a very valuable public resource which is not unlimited’ and mobile operators can be charged. They can later recover it from the users.
With increased strictness, telecom companies will use phone numbers properly
TRAI is also planning to impose a fine on those companies which keep less used phone numbers with them. For example, if a person has 2 SIM cards and he is not using one of them. But the company is not shutting it down for fear that the customer might leave. Making strict rules does not necessarily mean that telecom companies will use the given phone numbers properly.
To ensure that any limited government resource is used properly, a charge can be levied while giving it. Also, proper use can be encouraged by imposing a penalty on companies that hoard less used numbers. TRAI says that like spectrum, phone numbers are owned by the government. The government gives telecom companies the right to use only these numbers during the license.
Similar provision in new telecom law
Similar provision is there in the new telecom law passed in December last year. Under this, a fixed charge can be taken from telecom companies for the numbers. In technical language, it is called ‘telecom identifiers’. TRAI says that this method of charging mobile companies is already applicable in many countries. Charges are levied for phone numbers in Australia, Singapore, Belgium, Finland, Britain, Greece, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, Kuwait, Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Nigeria, South Africa and Denmark.
Money can be collected in these three ways
This money is sometimes levied on telecom companies and sometimes directly on phone users. TRAI also explained the methods of levying charges. According to TRAI, the government can charge mobile companies in three ways. First, a charge should be taken only once for every phone number. The second way could be that a fee is charged every year on all the numbers given to telecom companies. In the third way, the government can have an auction process for some special and easy to remember numbers.
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