Regulate OTT communication apps

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to review the suggestion of regulating internet calling and messaging apps in India. With this government is planning to regulate WhatsApp, Telegram, and other internet calling and messaging apps, which have not yet been announced officially.

The telecom companies are requesting the government to level the internet calling and messaging apps playing field in the industry on the basis of "same service, same rules. They are urging the government to charge the same license fee and follow the same regulatory interception and quality of service requirements for the service.

According to the report, TRAI suggested that internet service providers could offer internet telephony for placing calls on phone networks in exchange for payment of interconnection fees, which have since been eliminated for telecom operators. They could also offer the service if they installed equipment for lawful interception and paid the interconnection fees.

As per the DoT, a whopping 60%-70% of voice calls are currently taking place over the online messaging apps. The voice calls made using WhatsApp and other apps are hard to track, resulting in an increase in national security and financial fraud. Therefore, there is a strong need to regulate OTT communication apps.

With this, the telecom sector is going through a financial loss. In order to provide the calling and SMS service, these companies pay licensing fees too. As a workaround, these companies are asking the government to mandate the license fee for apps that offer online calling and messaging benefits.

When it comes to national security, phone voice calls can be easily tracked, but over-the-top voice calls cannot be tracked. India’s telecom operators are mandated to store Call Details Record of all voice calls for at least a year. National security agencies use them whenever it is required.

Therefore, the government now wants to bring OTT messaging and voice platforms under the licensing regime that will require them to maintain local data storage for a certain period. Additionally, all OTT platforms would need to implement the know-your-customer procedure to ensure user verification.

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA