The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday recommended to the government creation of a Virtual Network Operator (VNO), a new telecom service provider, that would work like a reseller for telecom operators and bill directly to customers.
According to the recommendation, a VNO would offer all telecom services permitted under new licences.
“Since VNOs are a new concept in India, initially, the duration of the licence of a VNO should be fixed at 10 years, extendable further for 10 years at a time by the licensor,” TRAI said.
Depending on technological developments and experience gathered, it added, the duration of licence can be reviewed after a gap of 3-4 years.
VNO is something like a retailer selling products and services of different companies under one roof, and a customer needs to pay only one bill for all items purchased.
“A VNO will be primarily an operator providing various services to an end consumer by using the underlying network of an NSO (Network Service Operator),” TRAI said.
Even offering broadband is under the ambit.
The regulator feels that there should be no cap on number of VNOs that can operate in a service area.
