With inputs from Akshit Chawla The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has rubbished a Business Standard report which suggested that it was not in favour of regulation for over-the-top (OTT) communication service providers. Medianama had reached out to TRAI and an official claimed that no comments were made by anyone within the organisation, and they did not add anything else in their response. Why it matters: The Indian government has extended the definition of telecommunication service to include companies like WhatsApp, Signal, Zoom, etc., as they offer calling and messaging services in the draft telecom bill. The provision ran into criticism as it is likely to impose regulatory burden on companies making it difficult for many to operate in India. TRAI’s purported comments, and the subsequent denial, suggest that the issue is a sensitive one and the regulator is hedging its bet in order to not run afoul of the Indian government. What did the report say: The report in the Business Standard last week had stated that TRAI had communicated its reservation against regulating OTT services to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) during the bill’s consultation. The sources within TRAI informed the newspaper that the regulator reiterated its earlier stance, made clear in a consultation paper in September 2020, that no regulatory intervention was needed for OTT services, and batted for market forces to respond to the situation. Moreover, the regulator called for an issue-based approach to policymaking for OTTs instead of a broad move to bring them…
