The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has set the ball rolling for clarity on issues related to collocation. The regulator has released a consultation paper, "Collocation Charges", inviting stakeholder views on the issue by end-April 2010. According to TRAI, the paper will examine collocation issues with a view to framing guidelines, which will help service providers to mutually agree on the terms and charges for establishing effective interconnection through collocation.

According to TRAI, in a multi-operator, multi-service scenario like India's, interconnection between different service provider networks becomes essential in order to enable subscribers of one network to communicate or interact with the subscribers, networks and services of other service providers. To establish interconnection, the necessary equipment needs to be installed by the interconnection seeker on the premises of the interconnection provider. This process is referred to as collocation.

For some facilities, actual collocation (frequently termed physical collocation) is not feasible, owing to space or other constraints. In such cases, access may be established through a secondary facility containing the collocator's equipment. Interconnection will then be achieved through a backhaul cable linking the two operators' equipment. Such remote access is known as virtual collocation.

Collocation of equipment requires provisions that may include land, building space, apparatus and plants, environmental services, security, site maintenance, power, electrical installations, cables, transformers, fire detection and fire-fighting systems, and back-up power. The existing service provider with whom interconnection is sought usually provides collocation facilities at a negotiated cost and on mutually agreed terms and conditions.

Availability of effective interconnection between telecom networks is one of the key factors for the growth of the sector. Bearing in mind the significance of collocation, TRAI has included collocation facilities and their charges in the Reference Interconnection Offer Regulation, 2002. According to the regulation's guidelines, wherever possible, physical collocation of the apparatus and plant owned (or leased) by one party should be carried out for interconnection at the other party's premises. Once the collocation is mutually agreed on, the required accommodation and auxiliary infrastructure has to be made available within the time schedule for interconnection. Further, when a seeker uses the provider's premises and facilities such as power, etc., it must pay an amount to the provider.

The current industry practice is to break up the collocation charges into the following components: charges for land and building space, electricity and miscellaneous charges related to power back-up, charges for in-premises duct sharing, charges for tower sharing (for the purpose of mounting the antenna to establish interconnection links) and charges for sharing other miscellaneous facilities.

The issues for consultation include:

The application procedure and subsequent provisioning of collocation, which clearly indicate the timelines for each activity as well as the centre of responsibility.

Grounds on which the request for collocation can be rejected by the collocation provider.

Grounds on which an ongoing collocation agreement can be terminated by the collocation provider.

The procedure of terminating the collocation, including the notice period that any party may give to the other.

Measures to ensure transparent and nondiscriminatory treatment in the pricing and provisioning of collocation facility.

Definition and scope of terms such as bay and rack.

Quotation of prices on a consolidated basis per unit area or per rack/bay versus segregation on an item-wise basis.

Elements to be considered in the collocation methodology for the calculation of various costs including:

Charges for space in owned and rented buildings

Electricity and miscellaneous charges

Charges for in-premises duct sharing

Charges for tower sharing

Annual escalation for the charges

Charges for sharing any other facility required for collocating equipment for interconnection

Possible reasonable return if costing is based on directly attributable cost.

Need for well-defined criteria to allow the collocation provider to retain space for its own requirement.

Whether the party seeking collocation can carry out operation and maintenance of the collocated equipment itself or through the collocation provider, and conditions for both.

Criteria for determining collocation charges of passive links.

Grounds to justify the sharing of collocation costs between the seeker and the provider, and the required criteria.

Other suggestions with regard to framing of guidelines for collocation charges.

TRAI's guidelines will be finalised once the stakeholders have given their views. If implemented, they will ensure that the fixation of infrastructure charges by service providers is not done arbitrarily, but on predefined and sound criteria.