Global Courant
NEW DELHI – India’s internet service providers have come up with a controversial proposal that could see popular online communications platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram pay a commission for using their networks.
The Cellular Operators Association of India, which represents the country’s three major private telecom companies, has proposed that such over-the-top (OTT) communications services, which also include Zoom and Instagram, help build and maintain their telecom infrastructure. , rather than taking it for ‘a free ride’.
The association’s proposal was made in September in response to a consultation paper released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which had sought public input on a regulatory mechanism for OTT communications services in the country.
The telcos’ proposal added that the rapidly growing use of these OTT platforms for voice calling and messaging services had led to “revenue erosion” for them, especially at a time when they had to make higher investments to deploy their networks expand and retain their customers. keep pace with growing data traffic.
OTT communications services are calling and messaging applications that are accessible over the Internet through the infrastructure of Internet service providers.
Cutting costs has been a priority for debt-laden telecom companies in India, which have tried to pass on some of their expenses to the likes of WhatsApp and Telegram. The country’s internet subscriber base grew to nearly 866 million as of December 2022, with more than 500 million users relying on WhatsApp for voice calling and messaging.
The proposal to make OTTs pay a commission has raised concerns among consumer rights groups as these platforms could end up passing on some of the costs to their consumers, who already pay telecom companies for data and even OTT platforms for their services.
Mr Amol Kulkarni, research director at CUTS International, a research and advocacy think tank, said this could prove to be a “double whammy”, especially for price-sensitive users in India.
“There are several vulnerable, low-income consumers living on the margins for whom OTTs are a substantial source of livelihood, education and infotainment. They will be hit the hardest,” he told The Straits Times.
A possible consequence, Mr Kulkarni added, could mean users either have to spend more to access OTT services or have to settle for partial or poor access.
Some might even be completely cut off from services that appear to be beyond their reach.
Critics of the proposal also say that it is wrong to claim that OTT services are getting a “free ride” because they have increased telecom companies’ revenues from users who pay these telecom companies for the data they consume through these services.
Net monthly average revenue per user for telcos rose from Rs 111.45 (S$1.83) in June 2013 to Rs 141.14 in December 2022.
This was driven by an increase in data-based revenue from mobile subscribers. The share of these revenues in total subscriber revenue increased more than ten times, from 8.10 percent in the quarter ending June 2013 to 85.1 percent in the quarter ending December 2022.
