Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has been vocal representing Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) who have been urging for a fair share from LTGs (Large Traffic Generators), given the escalating infrastructure expenses and increasing costs of network deployment and maintenance by the TSPs. COAI has released a white paper today addressing the issue of fair sharing of costs by LTGs in the telecom sector.
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LTG Contribution
Commenting on the launch of White Paper, Lt. Gen. Dr. S P Kochhar, Director General of COAI said, "The debate on whether the Large Traffic Generating (LTG) platforms/applications - which put a disproportionate amount of data traffic on the networks - should contribute towards the associated network costs, is a prevalent topic across the world today, including India."
"While these LTGs consume a significant portion of internet bandwidth, leading to increased network costs for operators, they currently pay no direct fees for utilising this infrastructure. This disparity hinders the operators' ability to invest in network upgrades and expansion such as launch of 5G services in India - ultimately impacting service quality for consumers."
COAI's Consumer-Centric Approach
"Against the misconceived suggestions by the LTG advocates to the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) to raise consumer tariffs to recover the network expenses for the sector's sustainability, the telcos have adopted a clear, unambiguous and consumer-centric approach, not to burden the end-user for the purpose."
S. P. Kochhar said that instead, a more practical approach, using statistics and facts to arrive at conclusions logically, has now been adopted through a White Paper titled "Addressing Rising Data Traffic and Associated Infrastructure Costs in Indian Telecom." According to COAI, this paper studies the emerging scenario, the significance of responsible sharing of infrastructure development, maintenance and upgradation costs, and brings out the need for contribution by different stakeholders.
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The White Paper reportedly discusses the Capex and data traffic for 2014-2023, made clearly with segmentations of the growth patterns observed during the period, wherein 3 distinct patterns emerge. The data thus captured, has been mapped graphically to bring out the additional burden of LTG traffic, supported by statistics and simple math.
Resolution Models for Sustainable Telecom
With the above analysis, COAI has formulated 5 models of resolution to the issue at hand, with 2 of these models being workable solutions. However, COAI says the final recommendation is for a model that keeps MSMEs and Startups out of the ambit of fair-share (as consistently maintained and intended by the TSPs), and shows that the burden on the TSPs due to the LTGs' growing traffic patterns, even without the smaller players, is substantial and needs to be addressed, Kochhar added.
According to COAI, all other concerns voiced from time to time have been addressed in this model, which has been submitted as the recommended mode to the Government in the White Paper.
