Department of Telecom Seeks TRAI’s Views on Regulating Chat, Calling Apps

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has reportedly approached the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), looking for its views on the preparation of a framework for the regulation of web messaging and voice calling functions. The regulation could possibly be directed at over-the-top (OTT) service suppliers like Meta-owned WhatsApp, Signal, Google Meet, and different apps and companies, in line with a report. Telecom operators in India for years requested TRAI to make sure the its guidelines for telcos are additionally relevant to those companies that present comparable calling and messaging performance.   

TRAI’s earlier suggestions on web telephony weren’t accepted by the DoT, after which the latter sought complete reference on web telephony and OTT service suppliers that enable customers to make calls and ship messages over the web, in line with a report by PTI citing an unnamed authorities official.  

TRAI had beforehand said that there was no want to manage OTT companies, and the DoT final week requested TRAI for brand spanking new suggestions, in gentle of the altering atmosphere with new applied sciences. At the time, TRAI had advisable that web service suppliers (ISPs) might present web telephony for making calls on cellphone networks, in the event that they paid interconnection fees (which have since been scrapped for telecom operators) and put in lawful interception tools, as per the report. 

The authorities is but to formally announce plans to manage OTT service suppliers. 

It is price noting that TRAI has been going through strain from telecom operators for years, over the regulation of OTT gamers within the nation. The telcos have argued that these companies ought to pay licensing charges and be topic to the identical guidelines associated to lawful interception, and high quality of service.