A file photo of a work in progress for an undersea cable to connect Andamans at Pattinampakkam in Chennai. File photo for representational purpose only.
| Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj
Microsoft Corporation and Adani Data Networks Ltd have told the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that telecom operators who run the landing stations for undersea cables — through which the bulk of global internet traffic moves between countries — should not be required to have a significant stake in the cable systems they are connecting to Indian networks.
Microsoft said that the cloud industry’s growth required companies like itself to make significant investments into international data traffic, even though these companies aren’t telecom operators. “A licensing regime that forces a licensed operator to be a partner in the cable system itself will impose financial burdens on those operators, and it will unnecessarily limit the amount of cable capacity serving India,” Ashutosh Chadha, Microsoft’s Director and Country Head Public Policy for India wrote in the submission.
Adani Data Networks said in its submission that while the portion of these cables in Indian waters should be owned by the International Long Distance Operator (ILDO) that is operating that portion, “defining [percentage] ownership in [the] consortium would not be [a] viable option in new consortium models,” citing the huge costs involved in laying submarine cables internationally.
These submissions came in response to a TRAI consultation initiated after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) flagged the issue of Sify Technologies, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio not owning a stake in cable systems they operated. The regulatory situation is uncertain, but these systems have received interim approval. Sify said in its submission that “[f]or those operators seeking to focus their engagement on specific countries such as only India joining the consortium is unviable.” Jio backed this view, saying that the stake requirement was burdensome, as did BSNL.
Airtel’s submission was different: it said that ILDOs should be required to have a 10% stake in future cable systems, but that existing cable systems should not be subject to this requirement. The telco has a 20% stake in the SEA-ME-WE-6 cable system, according to a press release it issued in February 2022.