All OTT players should be brought under same rule for fair competition: COAI

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Tuesday said that uniform regulations should be adopted to regulate all OTT players, including communication over players such as WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram, and those such as Netflix that consumed huge bandwidth. It said that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) should define the OTT communication services in its draft telecom bill to ensure that there is a level-playing field for all.

In a note issued on Tuesday, the telco lobby body said that as the industry welcomes the adoption of new technologies and services by various players in the ecosystem, regulatory conditions and treatment must be made uniformly applicable for similarly placed players so that there are same services, same rules for fair and healthy competition. COAI said that OTT players consume a huge amount of bandwidth, which put extensive pressure on the network infrastructure established by the TSPs (telecom service providers (TSPs).

“Certain quarters have opined that the principle of ‘Same Service, Same Rules’ may not be applicable for OTT Communication services, based on misinformed views. It has been erroneously suggested that Telecom Services and OTT Applications do not operate on the same layer, when in fact; services such as calls (voice/video) whether provided by the TSPs or the OTT Apps, operate on the same layer, essentially riding on the network layer,” COAI said in the note.

Citing that there are flawed arguments that as have Right to Spectrum, numbering resources, interconnect with PSTN, and Right of Way (RoW) for setting Infrastructure, COAI said it is baseless that not to have any framework for regulating OTTs and bringing them on equal footing with the TSPs.

It may be noted that TSPs undergo a government-mandated process for allocation of the right to use of spectrum, numbering resources, etc. by undertaking critical commitments in terms of deliverables defined by the license agreement and investing heavily in setting up networks, COAI noted.

On the other hand, OTTs are free from any of these obligations but enjoy all the privileges of delivering the same services, without having to bear any of the regulatory obligations, security obligations, investment or network requirements.

It is to be noted that at present, regulatory disparities are there in the provision of essentially the same communication services between TSPs and OTT communication service providers. TSPs are subject to various regulatory obligations such as security, QoS, subscriber verification, anti-spam and strict compliance required under unified license provisions instructions. OTTs are not subjected to any form of regulation.

“It is important to note that it is not the case that OTTs are prevented from obtaining Right to Spectrum, numbering resources, interconnect with PSTN or ROW, etc.; but they have chosen not to opt for these privileges so as to avoid the associated obligations stated above,” COAI said.

The draft Indian Telecommunications Bill 2022 has expanded the definition of telecom services by adding OTT communication services, internet, and broadband companies, and in-flight communication services under its umbrella. COAI represents three stalwarts of the telecom companies, which are Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea.

Earlier in the day, Asia Internet Coalition, which represents big tech companies such as Meta, Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon, expressed its opposition to the draft Indian Telecommunications Bill and stated that the bill may ask messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Signal to break encryption and disclose messages to the government in response to surveillance orders.