NEW DELHI: Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to make new rules for messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Google’s RCS and Telegram. According to a report by Economic Times, they have asked TRAI to create licenses or permissions for these OTT (over-the-top) communication apps, stating they provide similar services to what mobile phone operators offer.
OTT apps have replaced text and voice calls: Telcos to TRAI
In its response to Trai’s exhaustive consultation, Airtel said.“OTT services and applications have thrived and multiplied, enabling factors being absence of any regulatory barriers and instant access to a global audience through the broadband connectivity powered internet,”
Without naming any specific app, it said that the OTT players have become substitutes of text and voice services.
OTT apps, on the other hand, oppose this claiming that they are already regulated under the Information Technology Act.
As per the report, Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea 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).
Telco said that the proposal for a single pan-India authorisation marks the first significant change in the licensing regime in 30 years since 1994. It will ease of doing business, simplify regulations, cut costs, reduce litigations and much more, they said.
However, they cautioned that the new regime must not disrupt the existing structural core of the telecom sector adding that the internet service providers (ISPs) should not be allowed to provide leased lines/VPNs.
Agencies

Agencies