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The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has expressed uneasiness over Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Sify Technologies applying for undersea cable landing station authorization when these companies do not have any stake in the cable network connecting to the Indian internet network. An RTI response received by Hindu, Undersea cables carry most of the global Internet traffic between countries. Various permissions are required from various government agencies to land these cables on Indian shores and connect them to the networks of various telecom and internet providers.
Reliance Jio has applied for authorization for landing IAX and IEX international cable systems in India; Airtel has applied for 2Africa and SEA-ME-WE-6 cable systems; And Syfy has applied for authorization for the Blue Raman cable system. These systems connect various port cities in India and other continents of the world and are paid for by associations of telecom operators around the world.
While DoT has raised concerns over the lack of share, the licensor in its RTI response has clarified that “based on the claims of [International Long Distance Operators (ILDOs)] that they are the owners of telecommunication resources within Indian territorial waters, have been permitted to carry out survey/laying of cables/repairs and maintenance for the relevant cable system.” The matter has been referred to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which Conducting a public consultation process to issue policy recommendations.
“Sify’s focus remains on compliance with all DOT regulations for any capacity landing in India,” Sify spokesperson Praveen Krishna said in an emailed statement. Referring to the Blue Raman system, which Sify claims has more capacity than other cable systems in India, the company said it has already received a “permit-in-[principle] After which we started working on the project. Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel spokespersons did not comment.
The licensee “shall ensure that they have a significant stake in such entities [consortiums] on whose behalf they are applying for security clearance, otherwise they do not have any locus standi In the case, “DoT provided a letter to Reliance Jio in 2021 Hindu,
TRAI’s consultation paper states that “concerns are being raised [telecom] The industry that imposition of shareholding condition in submarine cables may put the country at a disadvantageous position for international connectivity has urged the DoT not to make this condition mandatory.