At a time when telecom operators CEO's in India are lobbying with the Telecom Regulator TRAI to regulate OTT (Internet based services), Facebook has signed up to become an associate member of the Telecom industry association COAI. After the NDA government came into power, COAI Director General Rajan Mathews was quoted in The Hindu as saying that telecom operators feel they need “a revenue sharing arrangement between the over-the-top service providers and telecom service providers. COAI Members believe there is a crucial need to initiate dialogue and work with the Government of India on this issue”. The COAI has also prepared a white paper on OTT services (read this; we couldn't find the white paper online, and have asked COAI for a copy). Yesterday, the TRAI held a seminar to understand whether an arrangement can be arrived at between Internet services and telecom operators. We spoke with Ankhi Das, Director & Head of Public Policy, Facebook India, about why the company joined the COAI, and their views on COAI's push for regulation of Internet services: MediaNama: We're trying to understand why Facebook has joined COAI, and what are your views as a member of the COAI on their lobbying efforts, asking the regulator to set up a revenue sharing arrangement between OTT and operators. Ankhi Das: Our primary goal is promoting access and we have to work with lots and lots of people in the industry because we can't do it on our own. We have joined COAI as an associate member, not a core…
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