Industry's divergent perspectives on TRAI's current license guidelines

Communication over-the-top (OTT) applications like Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and WhatsApp have not been included in the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) most recent recommendations for authorization or licensing regimes.
Trai released a set of comprehensive suggestions to revamp the current telecom service licensing system; the recommendations do not include OTTs.

To accomplish "One Nation - One Authorization" across services and service zones, "Unified Service Authorization" has been created under the new framework.
With this authorization, an organization can offer all of the following services: mobile, internet, broadband, landline, long distance, satellite communication, machine-to-machine (M2M), and internet of things (IoT) services across India. These organizations will be able to route their domestic traffic whichever they like.

TV Ramachandran, President of the Broadband India Forum spoke with V&D and expressing his views he said, " We completely support TRAIs decision and think it was historic and the best thing to do by keeping OTTs out of the Regulation Regime since OTTs are used by telcos' consumers and account for 70 to 80 percent of data traffic and revenues, it stands to reason that OTTs should be entitled to a fair revenue share or payment from the telcos."

He added, "OTTs are making significant contributions to the digital economy. For instance, if the multitude of OTTs hadn't performed the heroic role in keeping healthcare, education, employment, logistics, and social interaction alive and well throughout the pandemic, our country would have collapsed.
They seem to have overlooked that the OTTs were implemented and the data traffic was generated by their own subscribers/customers, for which they have also paid the applicable fixed costs to the relevant operators. Customers might not even have chosen to stay on their cell networks if the OTT platforms had not been offered to them. It should be mentioned that consumers either knowingly download the OTT platforms or get them as pre-installed apps when they purchase a phone."

He further said that, "It is completely unrealistic to assume that the OTTs have gatecrashed into the network and are using the data flow for themselves as many of the fundamental rights including those of Spectrum, inter-connection, Unique identification numbers is only provided to the Telcos and not the OTTs.
Sadly, the mobile industry won't stop claiming that OTTs are freeloading their data traffic onto the networks, which is an absurd and unfounded accusation."

Telecom providers and IT sector associations have been at odds over attempts to subject over-the-top (OTT) services to a licensing scheme that would have subjected them to taxation.

On the contrary, Trai has established three broad kinds of authorizations that will encompass the entire range of telecom services offered in the nation: main service authorizations, auxiliary service authorizations, and captive service authorizations. As part of the licensing regime's revision in accordance with the new Telecom Act of 2023, the new service authorization guidelines have been implemented.

While COAI on the other hand, also released a statement expressing concern saying, “COAI expresses its concerns with the TRAI's Recommendations on the Framework for Service Authorisations under the Telecommunications Act, 2023. Since Telecom licenses in India are contractual agreements between the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and telecom operators,these licenses are legally binding contracts that outline rights, obligations and operational parameters to be followed by the telecom services. The DoT (representing the Government) and the telecom operator are the two signatories of the same. Therefore, the authorization process must continue to retain the contractual nature of the present licenses, as this will ensure uniformity, regulatory certainty and protection to investors who commit long-term capital to the sector.It may be pertinent to note that the TRAI’s recommendation that the Central Government should grant Service Authorization under Section 3(1) of the Telecommunications Act, 2024, instead of entering into an agreement with the entity,is without any valid justification and goes against the position of TSPs, while also undermining the current regime that has worked successfully for more than 3 decades - bringing enormous inflow of investments and growth in the sector."

In addition, according to TRAI's suggestions, calling and messaging features for satellite-based services should be permitted, broadening the range of services available in the telecom industry. It also promotes service providers to share active and passive infrastructure, which may result in increased productivity and lower operating expenses.