Archive illustration: a mobile tower in Pondicherry, photographed on March 19, 2005. Photo: kiwanja_tower_1 by Ken Banks, kiwanja.net, CC BY 2.0. Resized and JPEG re-encoded; no cropping or content changes.
India’s telecom regulator has set out a three-year transition from legacy links between operators to Internet Protocol-based interconnection, with the new rules taking effect on January 1, 2027.
The Telecommunication Interconnection (Third Amendment) Regulations, 2026, released on November 3, require all new interconnections established after the rules take effect to be IP-based. Existing E1/TDM connections must migrate in phases over three years.
Interconnection is the arrangement that lets customers of different telecom providers communicate across their networks.
The rules also shift traffic exchange from local and long-distance charging areas to the broader Licensed Service Area level. Existing traffic must move to these service-area points of interconnection within three years.
TRAI said the transition is intended to simplify routing and improve network efficiency and call performance. The amendment also adds procedures for voluntary surrender of interconnection points, revised bank-guarantee arrangements and reporting requirements to track migration.
