NEW DELHI: Telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia recently met with top telecom service providers to discuss the regulation of Over-the-Top (OTT) communication services.
The meeting included Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra, Reliance Jio managing director Pankaj Pawar, and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Director General S P Kochhar. BSNL Chairman Robert J Ravi also participated. Telcos reiterated their demand to bring OTT services like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Skype under regulation, referencing the Telecommunication Act 2023.
They argued that the bill’s broad definition of “message” could encompass OTT communication services. Other topics included relaxing norms for quality of service. Kochhar said TSPs still grapple with Right of Way (RoW) issues when acquiring permissions for infra deployment on public and private land for installation of towers and fiber-optic cables.
The situation is aggravated by additional requirement of street furniture for 5G networks. Interference from other wireless devices and electromagnetic interference, degrades signal quality and network performance.
Telcos have been advocating for OTT regulation, contending that these services offer similar functionalities to traditional telecom operators but are not subject to the same regulatory requirements.