NEW DELHI: Having received inputs from stakeholders and also directives from Courts to expedite the matter, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), on 28 January, will hold an Open House meeting on the draft model and standard interconnection agreements between multi-system operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs) for digital addressable system (DAS).

The regulator had issued a consultation paper on 9 December on the issue and asked for comments and counter-comments on 31 December and 7 January respectively.

The meeting will be held at the PHD Chamber building in south Delhi.

The paper was aimed at reducing disputes and ensures that the regulations for pacts between MSOs and LCOs can only be entered into on the basis of interconnect agreements.

The interconnection regulation further provides that the interconnection agreement between the MSO and its linked LCO shall have the details of various activities rendered by LCO and MSOs, and the revenue settlement between the parties for these services. The regulatory framework applicable for DAS also provides that the revenue share between LCO and MSO shall be determined by mutual agreement. In case the MSO and the LCO fail to arrive at mutual agreement, TRAI has mandated the subscription revenue share between the MSO and the LCO as a fall back arrangement.

The model is the outcome of interactions with MSOs and LCOs in various parts of the country between January and October last year, with the objective of enhancing awareness about the regulatory framework among stakeholders and to assess the compliance of the regulatory framework.