The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has stated that voice over internet protocol (VoIP) calls cannot be brought under the ‘same service same rules’ principle as they were fundamentally different from traditional telephony services. This refutes telecom operators and Cellular Operators Association of India?s (COAI) stand on net neutrality, which argues for ?same service same rules? for over-the-top (OTT) players in order to bring regulatory neutrality.
IAMAI has further stated that telecom operators are wrongly equating text and voice services with instant messaging (Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger) and voice over services (Skype or Viber) under the ‘same service, same rules’ principle. The association has also argued that a VoIP call is more expensive than traditional voice calls.
The association has explained that a 60-minute call over IP can consume around 25-35 MB for voice alone and 240 MB for video plus voice. This translates to Rs 180 per hour or more, which is almost three times the cost of an average call per hour on a normal subscriber. Earlier, telecom operators had argued that a one minute call on VOIP results in a fifth-a sixth of revenue realised (35-36 paise) from a minute of voice call. This is affecting their voice revenue, besides already eroding revenue earned from text messages services.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) are presently framing their own reports on net neutrality. The DoT report is expected by the end-May 2015, while TRAI will come out with its suggestions after reviewing comments on its consultation paper.
