WhatsApp, Zoom, Skype and other internet-based communications services have received a favourable verdict from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), in an impending appeal that was seeking to impose regulatory restrictions on internet-driven communication services. Yesterday, TRAI ruled that the time is “not opportune” to impose regulatory restrictions on these services, and the matter may be looked into again once the precedent is set, internationally. This goes against India’s telecom operators, who had claimed that since OTT apps offer competitive services as telcos, they too should fall under similar regulatory frameworks and fees to ensure a level playing field for all parties associated in a service.
In late 2018, TRAI had floated a discussion paper asking for industry members to express their opinion regarding the potentially stricter regulation of OTT communication services such as WhatsApp, Google Duo and the present crop of internet calling services such as Zoom and others. Leading up to the TRAI verdict, the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) had seemingly referred to the prevalent industry conditions as “long pending market anomalies”, and expressed hope that TRAI would offer a resolution to fix the regulatory framework that governs communication services in India.
On the other hand, services such as WhatsApp and others had argued against appeals from the telecom industry about imposing licensing terms and hefty fees on these services. They had also argued that imposing an arbitrary regulatory framework on such services would stifle innovation in the technology sector, and as a result, they must be kept out of stringent restrictions and guidelines that the telecom sector has to follow. TRAI’s ruling has favoured the OTT services for now, although the regulatory body has not entirely ruled out a revision to this question in future.
One of the aspects that the telecom sector had argued against the OTT services about is privacy and security, which has a set of rules that TSPs comply with. However, TRAI’s recommendation paper on the matter has judged that services such as WhatsApp already offer end-to-end encryption and other security standards, which takes care of concerns with regards to intermediate interception of communication channels.
TRAI concluded its recommendation by saying, “Any regulatory prescription in haste could leave an adverse impact on the industry as a whole.” Going forward, it now remains to be seen how the telecom vs OTT argument progresses, and what regulations are imposed in this space, if at all.
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