This story is part 2 of our coverage of Telcos’ responses to TRAI’s consultation on OTT regulation. You can read part 1 here. Telcos unanimously agree that the implementation of selective banning of OTT services/websites comes with a whole slew of challenges that they can’t address by themselves. Three out of four telcos that sent in their submissions to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s consultation on OTT regulation and selective banning believe that OTT platforms need to assist them for the bans to be implemented. The only outlier was Vodafone Idea, which suggested the banning of apps at the operating system provider level, whereas the others held that OTTs should be required to submit their IP addresses for telcos to implement bans and use the location data available to them in banning the service for a specific geographical region. Some context: TRAI’s consultation paper on the regulation of OTT communication services and selective banning of apps focused on the following broad themes— The selective banning of OTT services in periods of unrest. Revenue share agreements between OTTs and telcos. Licensing and regulatory requirements for OTTs. This story focuses on Airtel, Jio, BSNL, and Vodafone Idea (Vi)’s comments on the selective banning of apps/websites. Each company’s comments have been highlighted in their own specific section. Reliance Jio: Implementation of internet shutdowns leaves a lot to be desired: The company submits that the powers are being exercised for the flimsiest of reasons and pretexts, including but not limited to preventing cheating in…
