India’s telecom operators will have to register interconnect agreements and later modifications through a TRAI portal from 1 January 2027, replacing a framework that still referred to printed copies and soft copies on floppy disks or diskettes.
The Register of Interconnect Agreements (Fourth Amendment) Regulations, 2026 also require searchable electronic documents, enable online access requests and introduce a graded framework of financial disincentives.
The filing timetable
Agreements already in force on 1 January 2027 must be submitted within 15 days of that date. New agreements and modifications must be registered within 15 days of execution or amendment.
Operators will have to file text-searchable PDF copies. TRAI may also prescribe formats for disaggregated information to be furnished within a specified period, allowing the regulator to maintain more structured records.
For compliance teams, the transition means inventorying active agreements, confirming which modifications remain operative and preparing consistent electronic files before the effective date.
Access and fees change
Applications to inspect the register, access prescribed portions and obtain copies or extracts can be made through the portal, while physical access remains available under the applicable rules.
The inspection fee has been revised to ₹1,500 per hour or part of an hour. Copies or extracts will cost ₹500 per page. The charges are aligned broadly with TRAI’s access-to-information framework.
Enforcement becomes graded
The amendment introduces proportionate financial disincentives for contraventions. The PIB summary does not reproduce the complete penalty schedule, so operators should use the notified regulations and explanatory memorandum for implementation.
The rules follow consultation that drew comments from 17 stakeholders and counter-comments from nine. TRAI also held an open-house discussion in January 2026.
What telecom businesses should do
- Identify every agreement in force on 1 January 2027
- Reconcile amendments, side letters and termination records
- Convert executed documents into searchable PDFs
- Establish a 15-day control for new agreements and changes
- Assign ownership for portal submissions and evidence retention
- Review the detailed financial-disincentive schedule
Interconnection arrangements underpin traffic exchange between networks, so incomplete records can create both regulatory and operational risk. Legal, network and finance teams should agree on a single source of truth for each contract.
Operators may need a document-quality review before uploading older agreements. Scanned files without reliable optical character recognition will not meet the practical purpose of searchable submissions, and annexures or network schedules can be missed if repositories are fragmented.
The 15-day rule should be built into contract-closing workflows. A regulatory filing that depends on an informal handoff after execution is vulnerable to staff absence, version errors and uncertainty over the date a modification became effective.
Digital filing should make retrieval and oversight more efficient, but the benefits depend on portal reliability, document quality and clear treatment of commercially sensitive information.
The effective date leaves less than two months for operators to prepare legacy agreements. Waiting until January would compress document review and increase the risk of inaccurate or duplicate submissions.
Source: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India release published by the Press Information Bureau on 6 November 2026.
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