Is TRAI Trying To Regulate
Messaging Apps Like WhatsApp
And Viber?
Mobile has become the primary device for
India, the fastest growing smartphone market
in Asia for Q1 2014 . Conversations don’t just
take place on social media but they have
moved to the world of messaging apps.
According to a latest report , Indians spend 3
hours a day on their smartphones and 24% of
smartphone users use mobile apps such as
Whatsapp and WeChat for business.
Good news for users but bad news for
telephone operators. A report from Ovum had
predicted that global telecom companies will
lose $386 billion between 2012 and 2018 from
customers using over-the-top VoIP (Voice over
Internet Protocol) solutions such as Skype and
Microsoft Lync. These losses will be mostly
from international call revenues and roaming
services. The companies lost $32.5 billion in
texting fees in 2013 and the figure is projected
to reach $54 billion by 2016.
The state has been similar in India and Indian
operators have been lobbying hard to bring
messaging apps under certain regulations; their
pleas have been heard by Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI). The regulatory body
has decided to initiate the process of bringing
in a regulation for over-the-top (OTT)
companies or providers of apps like WhatsApp
and Viber to pay connectivity charges to
telecom companies and share revenue with the
government as well.
The decision was taken at the beginning of this
week that a seminar would be organized to
access key issues related to OTT such as new
developments in OTT, impact of OTT on
telecom services providers and their counter
measures, legal and regulatory framework for
OTT. Subsequently, TRAI would come up with a
discussion paper on OTT players (we are trying
to get hold of the paper).
Ongoing push by telecom operators
The move might bring joy for the telecom
operators in the country who had been raising
their voice for such a guideline. Earlier in the
first quarter, Bharti Airtel Joint MD and CEO
(India operations), Gopal Vittal had stated that
mobile messaging and voice apps that are
driving communication globally should be
regulated just like telecom firms are regulated. Apparently, the Indian government and TRAI
both are suddenly interested in formulating
regulations for messaging and voice apps in
the country. The present government is not
just interested in setting up guidelines but also
indicates that it might ask messaging
companies to set up servers.
“We may be asking them to put their servers in
India as they get connected to any telecom
network in India without getting themselves
registered that is something which is also a
security concern for us,” added a senior
official with the Department of
Telecommunications (DoT). He further added
that OTT players would anyway have to follow
the law of the land.
Persuading Internet companies to set up
servers in the country isn’t a new issue. We
saw the Congress led UPA government doing it
but failing. Instead it deployed the Central
Monitoring System that would monitor Internet
and mobile activities of Indian citizens.
With the new government in place, it would be
interesting to watch it play its cards. Social
media monitoring is no more a choice when
digital activities of people are at a all-time
high. But what is interesting to note here is
rather than Telcos joining hands with
messaging companies and working together
they are trying to bring guidelines and
framework.
While the world is becoming more open and
connected, telco giants are forcing us to move
backwards with time. It would be interesting to
watch the guidelines TRAI would be
implementing and will the messaging
companies be a part of this discussion.
Players like WhatsApp with more than 50M
active users from India, consider India to be a
big market, just like other players – Viber,
WeChat, Line, Hike, etc. While these players
have got a sizeable user base in India, revenue
generation is still in a nascent stage for them.
In such case, what will the messaging
companies pay and how would TRAI determine
a fees on them? http://www.business2community.com/mobile-apps/trai-trying-regulate-messaging-apps-like-whatsapp-viber-0967016
