The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has left out communication over-the-top (OTT) services such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram from its new recommendations on authorisation or licensing regimes.
As part of its overhaul of the existing telecom service licensing regime, TRAI on Wednesday brought out detailed recommendations, which do not mention OTTs. Tech and startup industry bodies have been at loggerheads with telecom operators over efforts to bring OTTs under a licensing regime, which would have opened them up to taxation.
Instead, TRAI has outlined three broad categories of authorisations: main service authorisations, auxiliary service authorisations, and captive service authorisations, which will cover the gamut of telecom services in the country. The new service authorisation framework is part of an overhaul of the licensing regime in line with the new Telecom Act, 2023.
Under the new framework, ‘Unified Service Authorisation’ has been introduced to achieve the objective of ‘One Nation – One Authorisation’ across services and service areas. An entity holding this authorisation can provide mobile service, internet service, broadband service, landline telephone service, long-distance service, satellite communication service, Machine to Machine (M2M), and Internet of Things (IoT) service on a pan-India basis. These entities will have complete flexibility for routing their domestic traffic.
A new authorisation, ‘Satellite-based Telecommunication Service Authorisation,’ has been proposed for commercial satellite services, merging the erstwhile VSAT-CUG service and GMPCS licences. Satellite-based telecom providers will also be permitted to make use of satellite earth station gateways established in India for servicing foreign countries, after obtaining government permission.
TRAI has also asked the government to provide a glide path leading to financial accounting and reporting, assignment of numbering resources, and assignment of spectrum at a national level for Unified Service authorised entities.
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) officials said OTTs will be regulated by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY) proposed Digital India Bill.
Telcos have reiterated that OTT communication services are covered under the new Telecom Act as an access service, and have demanded ‘same service, same rules’ for OTT players, he added. Meanwhile, tech interests have stressed that any additional regulatory intervention will lead to entry costs for the industry, increase the cost of services—which could be passed on to consumers—and thereby stymy the virtuous economy OTTs are contributing to.
First Published: Sep 18 2024 | 9:48 PM IST
