RJio reasserts include OTT providers in authorisation regime at TRAI’s OHD

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India held an open house discussion on the Consultation Paper on the ‘Framework for Service Authorisations to be Granted Under the Telecommunications Act, 2023.’ Most of the stakeholders asked for the removal of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) and license fee.

Ravi Gandhi, president and chief of public policy at Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail, urged the regulator to include OTT communication service providers in the access services authorization regime. The telco argued that there is no strong case for treating OTTs such as Whatsapp differently than telecom operators, at least at the service level. The former should be brought under the authorisation regime as these are in competition with telcos, Jio said.

Jio’s pitch, however, was refuted by the, which represents tech companies such as Meta, Google, Netflix, Amazon, among others.

“OTTs are not telecom services. The argument that these are the same services is a misnomer and a misconceived thought,” argued Debashish Bhattacharya, senior deputy director general at BIF. Adding that certain interested parties continue to bring this up with the hope that they can get the OTT services covered under the Act through the back door.

“Telecom service providers have unique exclusive rights that include right to spectrum, right to numbering resources, right to interconnect, and a right of way. To set up infrastructure, OTT players have none of these privileges. OTT players cannot provide any services unless and until they are allowed by telecom service providers. Entire network and the control to access the network is in the hands of telecom service providers,” he said, opposing Jio’s argument on a level playing field.

The debate about regulating OTTs resurfaced after the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), in its recent submission to Trai, said, “As per our understanding, OTT communication services are covered under the new Telecom Act as an access service.”
BCS Bureau