New Delhi, Dec 8 (IANS) The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has extended the deadlines for stakeholders to submit their comments and counter-comments on its latest consultation paper regarding the review of existing regulations on interconnection, the Ministry of Communications said on Monday.

The consultation paper was released on November 10, with the original deadlines set for December 8 for comments and December 22 for counter-comments.

TRAI said it received multiple requests from industry bodies and stakeholders seeking more time to study the issues and prepare their submissions.

Considering these requests, the authority has now extended the deadline for written comments to December 15, and for counter-comments to December 29.

“Keeping in view the requests received from industry association and stakeholders for an extension of time for submission of comments on the said consultation paper, it has been decided to extend the last date for submission of written comments and counter-comments up to December 15 and December 29, respectively,” the ministry said.

Stakeholders can send their inputs in electronic form to Sameer Gupta, Advisor (Networks, Spectrum and Licensing-I). The consultation aims to gather industry views on updating interconnection regulations to keep pace with evolving telecom technologies and market requirements.

Meanwhile, the telecom regulatory body said last month that it has taken major action against spam and fraud in the telecom sector, disconnecting more than 21 lakh mobile numbers and blacklisting around one lakh entities over the past year.

According to the regulatory body, the actions were based on complaints filed by citizens, and the Authority has now urged people to continue reporting spam through the TRAI DND App to stop misuse of telecom services at the source.

According to the telecom regulator, many users believe that blocking unwanted numbers on their phones is enough.

–IANS

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