The telcos have asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to bring over-the-top (OTT) communication providers under regulatory licensing or authorisation since they provide similar services to what mobile phone operators offer.
Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) have also backed TRAI’s proposal to overhaul the existing telecom licensing regime and bring a pan India single licence, namely Unified Services Authorisation (National) to enable the ease of doing business, simplify regulations, cut costs, and reduce litigations.
According to the telcos, the proposal for a single pan-India authorisation marks the first significant change in the licensing regime in 30 years since 1994. However, they cautioned that the new regime must not dismantle the existing structural core of the telecom sector.
The telcos also mentioned that internet service providers (ISPs) should not be allowed to provide leased lines/virtual private networks (VPNs). Meanwhile, digital connectivity infrastructure provider (DCIP) authorisation and infrastructure providers of category-I (IP-1) scope must remain separate. Similarly, internet exchange points (IXPs) and content delivery networks (CDN) and numerous other services scopes must not be dismantled, keeping in mind the business models of involved parties.
