Telecom companies strictly recommend TRAI on OTT platform, demand to bring law soon.

Telecom companies – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea – in a meeting with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chief on Wednesday strongly pitched for legislation for OTT firms. Sources gave this information. Sources said that TRAI also informed the telcos in the meeting about the upcoming review of Quality of Service (QoS) norms and regulations on spam calls. TRAI had scheduled a meeting with telecom operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to prepare the agenda for 2023, where the companies raised various issues. The meeting was attended by Airtel Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gopal Vittal, Vodafone Idea Chief Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Officer P. Balaji and Reliance Jio board member Mahendra Nahata.

The meeting was chaired by TRAI chief PD Vaghela. Sources present in the meeting said that the telecom operators unanimously insisted on ‘same service-same law’ and said that the same rules should apply to OTT companies providing services similar to telecom companies as applicable to them. OTT communication services include WhatsApp, Signal, Google Meet, Telegram and so on. Meanwhile, the telecom companies also sought reduction in taxes like their license fee.

Sources said that during the meeting, a senior official of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) said that telecom companies should be encouraged to use indigenous equipment. Incidentally, the telecom regulator will meet telcos on February 17 to discuss measures and action plan to improve quality of service, review norms, benchmarks for 5G services and unsolicited commercial communications. After today’s meeting, the importance of the February 17 meeting has increased.