The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released recommendations (pdf) on the amendment in the ISP License agreement to incorporate the terms and conditions mentioned in the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) (pdf) for the use of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum issued on February 25, 2010. The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) had previously sought TRAI's recommendations to incorporate terms and conditions mentioned in Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) to the ISP License agreement via an amendment in December 2011. Following this, TRAI had released a consultation paper on this topic on March 15, 2012, wherein it had proposed that all the terms and conditions can be incorporated in the licence agreements of the ISPs, who had received BWA spectrum through the auction. TRAI stated that it had received comments from five stakeholders which expressed a similar opinion, although some stakeholders had called for a level playing field between UAS/CMTS licensees and ISP licensees and stated that ISPs should not receive any additional benefit because of the amendment. TRAI Recommendations - Validity Period for BWA Spectrum: Through the current recommendations, TRAI has recommended that a validity period clause for use of BWA Spectrum should be added. It stated that ISPs should be authorized to use the BWA Spectrum for 20 years from the date on which BWA spectrum was awarded for commercial use, provided that the operator continues to have an ISP Category 'A' license and the BWA license was not revoked or surrendered earlier. It noted that if the category 'A' license of the operator was cancelled or terminated for a…
