Trai seeks views on ways to attract investments to bring subsea cable systems to India

New Delhi: The telecom regulator has sought suggestions from stakeholders on ways to attract big-ticket investments to bring subsea cable systems to India. It has also elicited views around limitations in the present licensing/regulatory regime for laying submarine cables and setting up cable landing stations (CLSs) in India, and changes required to overcome them.

In its discussion paper, issued Friday evening, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), in a reference in August 2022, had voiced concerns that while some Indian international long distance operators (ILDOs) don’t have a stake in consortia owning subsea cables, they still seek home and defence ministry approvals on behalf of the cable consortia for laying/maintaining such cable systems in Indian territorial waters and even applying for setting up landing stations.