Twitter
Advertisement

Net Neutrality: Why the Internet and its applications are best left untouched

Telecom operators allege that many audio, video-calling and instant messaging services have been eating into their business.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

WhatsApp now offers its services on the web. Its web-based service is a fairly efficient respite to those burdened with working on the computer as well as checking their handsets. That, however, is the only advantage. The mobile app requires the user to keep data (mobile or wifi) services switched on, on the mobile. The app which offers a real time sync of messages, utilises much data on the mobile. If one was hoping to get away with using an ID and a password to use WhatsApp on the computer, they’re in for a disappointment.

Few other mobile apps are as thoughtful and telecom operator-friendly. Many audio, video-calling and instant messaging services, collectively called OTT or over-the-top players, have been eating into the business of telecom operators. OTT players have made SMS a redundant service and now also affect calling revenues of operators as most prefer to use mobile apps like Viber, Nimbuzz or Skype to make calls. Their ‘smart’ subscribers now prefer to use calling services for STD, ISD and other expensive services that let operators pile a premium on.

This disruption has come too soon. Operators are yet to finish the celebration of uptake in data usage among customers. While subscribers are using more data, their basic billing has been falling. While many quick users have made the switch to cheaper calling, the data revolution is yet to take off across the country, forcing operators to keep offering promotional data tariffs.

Telecom operators must be livid. This had come after operators spent huge amounts of money for marketing data as a service. The advertising required celebrities some times, apart from hoardings, forming joint ventures with handset retailers to co-promote smartphones; all to open the era of Internet-on-the-go. The Internet is a tough candidate to keep a check on. It packs a lot of tricks and it turned out to be a Pandora’s Box.

The best way out for the operators is to wait till subscribers get addicted to data usage and then price it well enough to supplant its calling revenues. But the operators decided not to wait. In the last few months, they seem to have been taking steps that are not surprising, yet market unfriendly. An operator had tried to differentially price (basically, charge more) data usage for mobile apps that allow calls over the Internet (VoIP). It was taken back after a furore. This isn’t much but a desperate attempt to ensure that their calling services remain as attractive. It did not work.

Some other operators have tried to patch clandestine deals with OTT players, to ensure some sites run with better speeds than the competitors. That borders on being undemocratic. The operators are now hoping their regulator would help out, by bringing these OTT players or over-the-top content players under the licensing ambit.Why not, I would say if I were a telecom operator. After all, they are all giving the service that most OTT players do, like calling, after bidding for spectrum at sky-high prices and dealing with various rules and regulations, of the unyielding Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

TRAI is thinking on these lines as well. But that would be a very bad move for consumers and the regulator too. For one, it would be very tough to regulate application-providers who are not based in India. If licenses were to be required to offer these services, most of them would stay away from participation and not queue up like the operators. TRAI would have to go great lengths to cut off the business and block VoIP calls, like in a few countries, earning the country and others a very bad reputation. Such applications mushroom quickly and the regulator would have a tough time to document and keep a regular check on new ones which emerge on a daily basis.

The Internet and its applications are best left untouched, for the operators and the regulator too. It should be managed like sand on the palm, if one tries to close it, sand granules will slip away from the fingers, leaving an empty palm.

Also Read: Is Airtel’s new ‘Airtel Zero’ plan flagrantly violating net neutrality?

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement