NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator TRAI today started the process to prepare
regulatory framework for Internet-based calling and messaging
applications like Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and Google Talk, known as
over-the-top (OTT) players.
"Worldwide, there is an ongoing debate among governments, industry and
consumers regarding regulations of OTT services and Net-neutrality. In
this background, TRAI today released a consultation paper on regulatory
framework for OTT services," TRAI Secretary Sudhir Gupta said in a
statement.
At present, consumers get to make phone calls and send messages using
Internet connection through mobile applications and their computers.
They are required to pay only Internet bandwidth consumed but nothing on
per call or message basis.
Telecom operators and VoIP service providers or OTT players have been at loggerheads over this issue.
Telecom operators have said that OTT players like Skype, WhatsApp,
Viber etc are eating up their main revenue without investing in
networks.
On the other hand, OTT players defend themselves by demanding access to
Internet or web-based services without hurdle for growth of communities
and nations.
TRAI Chairman Rahul Khullar had earlier indicated about starting the
process to frame regulation on OTT services after Airtel earned huge
criticism from public for its plan to charge separately for VoIP calls,
against principles of Net-neutrality.
Under the Net-neutrality principle, telecom and Internet companies
should treat all web-based services equally and there should be no
differential pricing or any kind of barrier that discourages people from
accessing services.
However, there is no legislation in India at present on Net-neutrality.
TRAI said that telecom service providers (TSPs) offering fixed and
mobile telephony are currently being overwhelmed by online content,
known as over-the-top (OTT) applications, and services.
"It is becoming increasingly difficult for consumers to know if there
is an economic difference in connecting various networks via a landline
phone, cell phone, or a computer.
"In fact, young users find it difficult to distinguish among these
three networks; from their perspective, all that matters is
connectivity," TRAI said.
The regulator said that characteristics of OTT services are such that
TSPs realise revenues solely from the increased data usage of the
Internet-connected customers and do not realise any other revenues.
"On the other hand, OTT providers make use of the TSPs' infrastructure
to reach their customers... that not only makes money for them but also
compete with the traditional services offered by TSPs," TRAI said.
The regulator has sought views of people interested in the matter by April 24 and counter comments by May 8.
Citing industry reports, TRAI said that in 2013, Skype carried an
estimated 214 billion minutes of international calls within its app
network.
Skype's traffic was almost 40 per cent of the size of the entire
conventional international telecom market and in growth terms, it now
far out-paces the combined growth in the voice minutes of the global
telecom industry, TRAI said.
"With innovations in OTT services, Full-HD voice is slowly becoming a
reality for customers all over the world. The call quality of Skype and
Google Voice is improving rapidly and, in some markets, nearly matches
that of a circuit switched call," the regulator said.
However, it said that impact of VoIP calls is not much in Indian market
because of low call rates provided by telecom operators which is in the
range of 40-60 paise a minute, low Internet penetration and quality of
service provided by OTT players not being up to the mark.
The regulator said impact of OTT messaging applications on SMS in India has been in line with international trends.
As on January 2015, WhatsApp had 700 million monthly active users
across the globe and is delivering about 30 billion messages on an
average each day. While, BlackBerry had over 50 million users of
Messenger service in May 2011, who sent 100 billion messages each month.
"The user base of OTT messaging services has grown to more than one
billion in less than five years, impacting TSPs and other service
providers all over the world. This impact has also been felt in India,"
TRAI said.
"The (SMS) messaging traffic fell (in India) from 5,346 million in June
2013 to 4,367 million in June 2014, a decline of 18.3 per cent. This
decrease can be attributed almost entirely to an increase in traffic of
OTT messaging apps," TRAI said.
In the fourth quarter of 2014, Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular, both
Indian TSPs, have shown a significant drop in their messaging and Value
Added Service (VAS) revenues as a percentage of total revenues, it
added.
Quoting industry reports, TRAI said that as on December 2014, WhatsApp
topped the messaging application market with 52 per cent of all users
using OTT messaging services in India, followed by Facebook Messenger
with 42 per cent, Skype with 37 per cent and WeChat with 26 per cent
share.
Viber stood at fifth spot with 18 per cent share and Line stood at sixth position with 12 per cent share.
WhatsApp's subscriber base in India has risen to 70 million and it has a
free subscription model unlike in developed markets where the annual
fee is USD 1, the regulator said.