TRAI organises a Conference on ‘Rating of Buildings or Areas for Digital Connectivity

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has organized a Conference on “Rating of Buildings or Areas for Digital Connectivity”. In the year 2022, when the country is celebrating Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, TRAI has also completed 25 years of its existence. The Conference is organized as a part of its year-long silver Jubilee celebration.

The Conference was inaugurated by the Chairman TRAI, Dr P.D. Vaghela and the session was graced by the presence of Member Technology DCC DoT, Member TRAI and Senior Officers from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Department of Telecommunication, Town and Country Planning Organisation, various State Governments, Development Authorities, NAREDCO, BIS, BEE, a representative from telecom and real estate Industry etc.  

The conference was organised in the spirit of the proactive role of TRAI to work in collaboration with industry and other stakeholders and ensure good Quality Telecom Services are delivered to the consumers inside the building keeping pace with the new and emerging technologies. In this regard, TRAI issued a consultation paper on the Rating of Buildings or Areas for Digital Connectivity, on 25th March 2022, wherein extensive participation from various stakeholders is witnessed. The stakeholders submitted inputs and comments on the issues raised and also shared their thoughts in the Open House Session.

Chairman TRAI, Dr P.D. Vaghela in his keynote and Inaugural address, put forth the background of the conference and underlined the importance of good digital connectivity, in the present era. We all have adopted this new norm of life of performing our day-to-day tasks through online mode and for this, we require good digital connectivity in every nook and corner of the apartment. For providing digital connectivity in indoor areas, TSPs actions alone will not suffice rather close collaboration and coordination among a multitude of agencies/ stakeholders from the telecom side, real estate sector, permission granting authorities etc., is required for this new ecosystem to work effectively.

Chairman TRAI, advocated for close coordination among various stakeholders for ensuring the co-design and co-creation of Digital Connectivity Infrastructure along with the building plan. There should be necessary provisions in Building bye-laws for the co-creation of DCI and standards in the National Building Code of India. He urged all three tiers of the Government i.e. Center, State and Local Governments, to update their bye-laws/ housing acts to make provision for robust, effective and efficient digital connectivity infrastructure for a real delightful experience for end users.

Chairman TRAI also advocated creating a win-win situation for the builder, telecom service providers and end users’ experience, by creating a framework for benchmarking of buildings in terms of Digital Connectivity experience rating. The rating widely published shall attract buyers and thereby enable service providers and builders to add value to their services or properties.

The deliberations at the conference were held in three sessions. The first session focused on Quest for Good Digital Connectivity and the speakers from DoT, TCPO, BEE, UL Standards and Engagements Inc. and DIPA shared their views. The second session was on Digital tools and Platforms for DCI players wherein speakers from Telecom Industry, iBwave, Ericsson and Deloitte presented their thoughts on varied topics. The third session was dedicated to Panel Discussions in which apart from TRAI officers, experts from NAREDCO, TEC, NTIPRIT, TCPO, COAI, UL Standards, ISPAI etc., participated and deliberated on the issues.

The conference was successful in getting quality inputs from the stakeholders of various organisations and TRAI shall consider these while finalising its recommendations on this topic.

For more information on this Conference, kindly contact Shri Anand Kumar Singh, Advisor (QoS), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, by email: advqos[at]trai[dot]gov[dot]in. or maybe contacted at Tel. No: +91-11-2323-0404, Fax: +91-11-2321-3036.

Disclaimer: This is an official press release by PIB.