Mobile manufacturing industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said that they see the consultation as a positive sign.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday issued a consultation paper on Internet telephony and voice over Internet telephony (VoIP) services. The regulatory body has invited comments from stakeholders by July 21.
The consultation paper intends to look at VoIP services, which are cheaper than traditional or Internet telephony. The consultation also looks at the effectiveness of an emerging technology like VoIP, and notes that telecos are reluctant to work on better Internet telephony services for profit margins, often leading to expensive bills.
TRAI secretary Sudhir Gupta said that the consultation aims to bring Internet telephony under discussions. "There's a lot that needs to be discussed. There was no clarity on the functioning of Internet telephony, what are the interconnection charges, so we need licensing, etc. We will look forward to the inputs by stakeholders," said Gupta.
Mobile manufacturing industry body Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said that they see the consultation as a positive sign. It must be noted that the COAI had sent a letter to TRAI to include OTT services like WhatsApp, Skype, etc under regulation.
"We are pleased that some of the significant issues that we had written a boy have been included here," said COAI chief Rajan Mathews. "Whether Internet telephony needs licensing needs to be discussed."
COAI's letter to TRAI was a result of a recent dispute between telecos and state-run BSNL which announced the launch of a new service that enables its customers to make local and STD calls from their landline phones in India by using a mobile application when they are abroad. Telecos protested that VoIPs are unregulated and hence, cheap.
Raman Jit Singh Chima, Global Policy Directir at Access Now said that the consultation, which is limited in its approach now, is positive.
"This is not entirely for general consumers now, but may increase in scope in the consultations. This is more about interconnections within Internet telephony and not about OTT services," said Chima. "However, the TRAI has hinted at an open internet and that's very encouraging."
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