MUMBAI: Towards the end of 2018, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) published a recommendation paper on OTT communication services, requesting feedback from all stakeholders. On Monday, the regulator confirmed that its recommendations on the issue would be made public by the end of next month.

"We will be organising open house discussions soon. And hopefully, by the end of the next month, we should be able to come up with recommendations," TRAI Chairman R S Sharma was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

In November last year, the TRAI released a consultation paper focusing on apps such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Google Duo among others, offering calling and messaging services similar to telecom service providers along with their basic functions. TRAI also sought public opinion on whether OTT applications should fall under the same regulatory ambit as telecom operators.

The Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) is of the opinion that OTT players should be licensed by introducing ‘OTT Communication Authorization’ under the unified licence. 

According to COAI, players in the telecom industry invest in licence fee, spectrum, telecom equipment and security apparatus. Hence, similar voice, video and data services without regulatory cost make for a non-level playing field.

However, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and the Broadband India Forum (BIF) have stood against the position by telecom operators. According to IAMAI, telecommunication regulations should not be automatically extended to online applications because of the fundamental “technical and business differences” between traditional services and apps.

“OTT providers offer an array of different services that are accessed by users through the data services provided by TSPs (telecom service providers). Thus, the services provided by TSPs, while they enable access to OTT services, are fundamentally different,” BIF said in its written response to TRAI