TRAI to hold Open House on OTT communications

Delhi: TRAI Chief Anil Kumar Lahoti said on Friday that the telecom regulator will proceed with open house discussions on regulatory mechanism for OTT communication services, and plans to also initiate consultation to tighten norms for pesky calls and messages soon. 

Speaking at a symposium on 'Strengthening Atmanirbhar: Securing Domestic industry and Technology', Lahoti said revival course of Vodafone Idea (VIL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) augur well for India, given that continued presence of four players in Indian telecom market will ensure competition and, in turn, benefit consumers and health of the industry.

Clearing the air around the fate of its consultation paper on OTT communication (services such as WhatsApp and Signal) in the wake of the advent of the Telecom Act, Lahoti said Trai will proceed with the process of holding open house discussion in "around three months or so.”

"I know, we have an ongoing consultation on OTT communication. It is just that in the last few months we are burning the midnight oil, clearing the number of references pending with us, and OTT communication is also in the line," the Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said.

Trai intends to hold an open house discussion on OTT soon, he asserted.

On whether the Telecom Act has rendered the OTT communication consultation paper infructuous, Lahoti dismissed such a suggestion saying, "no, it is not like that." 

"The OTT consultation was initiated after the recommendation of a Parliamentary Committee so this consultation will be completed, and we will give our recommendation... which Act it becomes a part of and which ministry, or which regulator deals with it, is a separate matter," he said.

TRAI is dealing with OTT communication as a subject, he affirmed.

On the issue of pesky and unsolicited commercial calls and messages (technically referred to as Unsolicited Commercial Communications) that tend to irk telecom subscribers, Trai has taken note of the problem and will bring a consultation paper, next month, to "significantly revise regulation" so issues are addressed, he promised.

"We will be revising the regulations and will tighten the mechanism, to clamp down on calls being made from normal 10-digit numbers and (will also address) other forms of misuse," Lahoti said.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry, too, is working on the issue of tackling unsolicited communications, he observed.

"The entire government... different departments are working in tandem and are completely conscious of the problem, and are looking at ways to address it," he said.

During his address at the symposium, organised by C-DEP and FINS, Lahoti said a slew of reforms initiated by the government since 2021 have infused life into the sector, and spurred growth.

The Telecom Act, he said, has brought clarity on the method of spectrum allocation.

It is pertinent to mention here that under the Telecom Act, 2023, only a very limited and narrowly defined cases, including spectrum for walkie-talkie for police organisations, radar for weather forecasting, radar and communication for ships, communication for space and satellite applications, communication and radar for the Army, Air Force and Navy and state-owned telecom corporation like BSNL, airwaves will be given on administrative basis.

Spectrum for mobile services will continue to be given through the auction process.

Lahoti said satellite communication reference that came to Trai was initially for auction of such airwaves, but in the light of Telecom Act (which lists out satellite spectrum among areas for administrative allocation) the regulator had referred the matter back to the government.

"We will now further take up that action as and when we get a revised reference from the government," he said.

On Vodafone Idea, which has completed equity fundraise with a massive FPO recently, Lahoti noted that the company's recent statement that it was on path to recovery following capital raise "is a good sign.”

"People have shown confidence in the company, and the company is saying they are on a path of recovery which is a good sign... for a country like India, having four players is good competition... from the point of view of consumer and health of industry," he said.

For BSNL and VIL, which had faced constraints on infrastructure and financial support, things have taken a turn for "positive" which is a "good sign,” he added.