DoT Pondering Over Bringing a Licensing Regime for Calling Apps

A senior government officer said that the DoT is considering regulating communication apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Skype. This move is coming from a national security point of view.

In the same regard, DoT has sought comments from the home ministry before it starts working on a licensing regime.

DoT to Regulate Calling Apps?

The official, cited by ET, said "some sort of licensing is required so that these companies store data of Indians within India like telcos do and give information to law enforcement agencies in a manner similar to that provided by telcos".

Amidst the recent clashes between social media platforms and the government, this move can carry significant value.

Earlier this week, WhatsApp asked the Delhi High Court to strike down the government’s new rules for social media. Particularly, the company asked for removal of the rules that mandate tracing the origins of "unlawful" messages within 72 hours. The company said that the rule under the IT Act violates the fundamental right to freedom of speech.

On the other hand, the government said that it will protect privacy and preserve free speech.

The official said that apps should provide law enforcement agencies data required for national security matters. Without licensing, these companies will get away by saying they haven’t stored the data within India.

Telcos have also repeatedly asked the government to apply the principle of ‘same service, same rules’. The telcos have demanded the government that these apps should also follow the same conditions as them.

SP Kochhar, DG, COAI, said, "regulatory imbalance between the OTT communication players and licensed TSPs remain un-addressed by TRAI". COAI represents all the private telcos in India and some telecom vendors.

He added that the government should relax licensing conditions for telcos if it is unable to apply similar rules to OTT and apps.