Is govt trying to regulate OTTs?

July 17, 2023 09:48

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has agreed to fresh consultations on regulating Over The Top (OTT) services, after consistent demands for it were put forth by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), several officials told Business Standard.

Also, given the fast spread of the OTT ecosystem, TRAI has focussed on the need to bring together stakeholders who differ on its key aspects, they said.

On July 7, TRAI brought out a new consultation paper that aims to discuss 14 specific points regarding OTTs, including their definition, difference between OTT communication services and telecom services and a possible collaborative mechanism between them.

In a key move, the regulator has also sought comments on whether OTT services should potentially banned under certain circumstances and what kind of a mechanism may be adopted for this.

"The arguments raised by DoT on several occasions in favour of regulations, has triggered the latest consultations. It has also been observed that many stakeholders are increasingly pointing out the real life implications of the OTT ecosystem, so it was felt that a new consultation would benefit all," a senior official said.

The telecom sector regulator had once before brought out a consultation paper on a possible regulatory framework for OTT services back in November 2018.The paper had concluded that since these entities aren't governed by the license conditions applicable to Telecom Services Providers (TSPs), the need to regulate them to ensure protection of consumers privacy and data security was urgent and inescapable.

However, in September 2020, TRAI had subsequently recommended that no comprehensive regulatory framework for various aspects of OTT services was required, and especially ruled out any regulatory intervention for issues related to the privacy and security of OTT services.

DoT has now pointed out that TRAI had not provided any detailed justification for the same and the authority's directions have been at variance with those of the department.

"TRAI has duly rebuffed all the points DoT made against the regulators earlier recommendations," another official said.

-- Subhayan Chakraborty/Business Standard

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