The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has raised objections to the dilution of rollout norms for national long-distance operators by the department of telecom.

The department had diluted the norms for national long-distance operators by allowing them to set up only one point of presence (switch) per circle against the earlier requirement of one switch per long-distance charging area.

While the department's rationale was that the move would reduce operators' costs significantly, Trai has said the dilution would bring national long-distance licence conditions on a par with those for international long-distance services. The regulator and the department of telecom are expected to meet on the issue this week.

Trai has observed that if the norms for national long-distance rollout are diluted, other access providers will demand modifications in their rollout obligations. For instance, international long-distance operators may pick up traffic from cellular and basic operators directly without routing it through national long-distance operators.

The regulator has pointed out that technical difficulties could also arise while implementing interconnect charges and carrier access codes.

Trai has further said the move would be detrimental to the development of telecom services in rural areas because national long-distance operators might not venture into backward areas if the rollout norms were diluted.

"No expansion on the part of the incumbent or other national long-distance operators in backward areas is an alarming possibility," a government official said.

The department has defended its decision to dilute the rollout norms by saying it is in line with the network architecture using a minimum number of switches being deployed by various private operators.