Telcos seek OTT regulation or revenue share, DoT says unlikely

The Department of Telecommunications is not looking to regulate the OTT communication players, since definition of telecom under the new Act does not apply to such apps, and will be clear once the all the rules under the Act are notified.

The telcos have repeatedly requested for the OTT players to be brought under the regulatory regime.

The tech companies have argued that this is a baseless comparison as the telcos also have access to uniterrupted spectrum bandwidth which OTT companies don’t. The telecom department is not at all looking to regulate the OTT players. The OTT players already come under regulation under the information technology act, and thus, they don’t need to be regulated under the telecom act as well.

This is a positive development for the OTT players who would have been worried about coming under telecom regulation. In the past, telcos have also requested that the government push OTT players to share a slice of their revenues with the operators. But the tech companies have opposed that too. Telcos argued that they have to make investments to carry to the traffic of OTT, and thus it is only fair that they get a share of the revenue. But the government isn’t likely going to side with the telcos on this one as well.

For now, the tech companies and OTT players can relax as the telecom department is not looking to either regulate them or ask them to pay a share of their revenues to the telcos.
BCS Bureau