New Delhi, May 2: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended to the government the creation of a virtual network operator (VNO), a new telecom service provider that will 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 could be reviewed after a gap of three to four years.

A virtual network operator 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 a network service operator (NSO).

Moreover, with the rapid advancement of technology, the business model of a VNO will continuously change," Trai said.

Trai has recommended that a VNO should be allowed to provide services of more than one operator and create their own service delivery platforms in respect of customer service, billing and value additions. Even offering broadband is under the ambit.

Trai has taken the line that the terms and conditions of sharing infrastructure between operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and BSNL, and a VNO should be left to market forces.

The regulator feels that there should be no cap on the number of operators that can operate in a service area. Trai also wants a separate category of licence, namely UL (VNO), for such an arrangement.

It suggested that access to services for further sale should be left to the mutual agreement between an NSO and a VNO.

However, Trai or the department of telecom (DoT) shall have the right to intervene in the matter as and when required to protect the interests of consumers and the telecom sector, the regulator said.

MNP deadline

The department of telecom (DoT) has extended the deadline to fully implement mobile number portability (MNP) across the country by another two months.

The earlier deadline to roll out full MNP was May 3.

"The government has decided to extend the date of implementation of the full MNP in the networks by two months," an official statement said.

The COAI had sought extension for implementing nationwide MNP as telecom operators have to make some technical changes to their networks due to changes in national numbering plan (NNP) and this could take about eight weeks.

The DoT has amended NNP asking telecom operators to allow their subscribers to dial on to mobile numbers within the same circle as well as inter circle without any prefix. Calls can also be made using the prefix '0' and/or '+91'.