VoIP calling apps like Ringo, Nanu, etc which transfer calls to and from landline/mobile networks are now under TRAI's scrutiny in a consultation paper. The regulator termed these apps as 'unrestricted' internet telephony services since they can terminate or originate at PSTN networks used by telcos as well, while calls made purely over the Internet have no restrictions. It also compared VoIP services offered by telecom operators with IP-to-IP based calling networks running in the open Internet, and asked whether they can co-exist, interconnect, and how they would evolve. TRAI has issued 15 questions to regulate Internet Telephony providers(pdf); stakeholders, consumers, and companies can send their responses to broadbandtrai@gmail.com by 21st July 2016. More on that below. Telcos lobbied against VoIP Interestingly, the consultation was released after just a month, after the COAI, a lobbying association comprising largely of India’s GSM operators, apart from Google and Facebook, wrote two different letters to both TRAI and DoT asking to regulate VoIP services offered by non-telecom companies. Last month, COAI said in a letter to TRAI that VoIP apps like WhatsApp, Viber and Skype are violating the existing telecom licensing regime and are merely riding over networks owned by telecom companies. (MediaNama has copy of the letter). Earlier, COAI also requested the DoT in a letter to stop operators from routing telephone calls over the internet, stating that app-based VoIP calls breach telecom license conditions; poses security risks and could generate losses to the national exchequer. Also read: What mobile operators have said about VoIP in…
