After regulating Internet and broadband services for years, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India seems to have decided to enter the broadband era by using technology to stream its ‘open house’ discussions to the public.
The regulator is streaming its latest open house discussion on spam calls and SMSes to the public via its twitter account (see bottom).
The move is likely to make the process of consultation more open and accessible to consumers across the country.
The TRAI makes rules and regulations that affect nearly a billion telecom users across the country.
Before making the rules, it conducts open consultations and discussions. However, these discussions — which used to be conducted only in New Delhi in the early days — are still confined to a handful of cities across the country.
This has made it more difficult for ordinary consumers to take part in the discussion or keep a track of what was being discussed, giving an indirect advantage to organized players — such as associations, lobbies and corporations — in making their voices heard.
You can watch the latest TRAI open house discussion below.
— TRAI (@TRAI) December 15, 2017