TRAI proposes key changes to simplify international traffic

In an attempt to simplify telecom laws, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has proposed definitions for international traffic, international SMS, and domestic SMS. The suggestions are in response to a request made in August 2022 by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Traffic originating in one country and terminating in another, with one country being India, is referred to as international traffic.

International SMS refers to international traffic that is sent by SMS.For example, if an application-to-person (A2P) SMS incorporates systems or devices that are not in India, it will be regarded as international. 

Similarly, traffic that starts and ends in India is referred to as domestic traffic and Domestic SMS can be described as SMS-delivered domestic traffic. 

Background

In May 2023, a consultation paper titled "Definition of International Traffic" was published, incorporating feedback from 20 parties and seven rebuttals. To finalise the definitions, an open house debate took place in August 2023. In a statement issued on December 10, TRAI has officially made its definitions of foreign traffic public.

TV Ramachandran, President, Broadband India Forum spoke with V&D, he explained, "While we welcome the clear basic definitions of international traffic and SMS and domestic traffic in SMS, we are rather uncomfortable with TRAI’s additional recommendation that the following explanation should be included under the definition of international SMS"

“Any incoming application to person (A2P) SMS message shall be treated as an international SMS message, if it cannot be generated, transmitted or received without the use or intervention of any electronic device, computer system or computer application located outside India”.

He also added, we respectfully submit that the Hon’ble TRAI has erred in this for the following reasons:-

• The geographic location of a data centre hosting a cloud server should not be the determining factor for charging international rates for messages circulated by businesses.
• Advancement of technology has resulted in various solutions which operate prior to the actual generation of a SMS. These upstream applications or systems do not interact with any telecom network, and do not result in the initiation of SMS, and therefore, it would be very broad and expansive to include within the definition of international SMS “data, application, or systems which influences, generates, control, facilitate or enable”.
• Categorisation of a message generated by a computer resource/ server located outside India as "international SMS", despite the fact that the origination and termination of the SMS is being done within the TSP’s own network is incorrect.
  Talking about the additional reccomendation he expressed, "we think that this additional recommendation is unnecessary and should  be reviewed in the interest of the end consumer."