Support Telecomtalk
Andrew Bonwick
Vice President of Product Development at Relm Insurance
Madhav Sheth
CEO of Ai+ Smartphone
Stephen Rose
CEO Render Networks
Telecom regulator Trai on Monday issued a long-awaited consultation paper to debate whether Over-The-Top (OTT) services, including WhatsApp and Skype, should be brought under the regulatory regime. The discussion paper titled ‘Regulatory Framework for Over The Top Communications Services’ is aimed at analysing and discussing “changes that may be required in the current regulatory framework to govern these entities; and the manner in which such changes should be affected”, a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) statement said.
- Make Telecom Talk My Trusted Source
OTT services refer to applications and services that are accessible over the Internet and ride on an operator’s network. Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and Hike are some examples of popular and widely-used OTT services.
Trai has asserted that the scope of its current consultation would be regulatory issues and economic concerns pertaining to those OTT services that are “same or similar” to the services provided by telecom service providers (TSPs).
The regulator has sought the industry’s views on which OTT services should be regarded as the same or similar to those offered by telecom operators, and if “substitutability” should be the main criteria for comparison of regulatory or licensing rules applicable to TSPs and OTT service providers.
It has also asked whether “regulatory or licensing imbalance” is impacting telecom network investments especially required for capacity expansions and technology upgradations, and how OTT service providers can participate in infusing investment in the telecom networks.
“Would inter-operability among OTT services and also inter-operability of their services with TSPs services promote competition and benefit the users,” the Trai consultation paper said, asking stakeholders to state measures that can be taken to promote competition.
