No Surprise: OTT App Providers Want No New Rules

It comes as no surprise that mobile operators support “level the playing field” rules that would apply all major regulations applied to carrier voice to over the top messaging and voice as well.

It also comes as no surprise that the providers of such over the top services and apps oppose the imposition of the new rules.

Apparently not at all under consideration is lightening the regulatory load on carriers to match present rules applying to OTT voice and messaging.

players like WhatsApp and Skype under a licensing regime will result in "negative unforeseen consequences" for technology start-ups and ecosystem, Internet service providers have said.

"The hasty imposition of an additional regulatory framework on Internet in India, without full consideration of its implications for the Indian digital economy, is almost certain to result in negative unforeseen consequences for internet-based innovation and the still nascent Internet startup ecosystem in India," the  Internet and Mobile Association of India said.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India also claims a VOIP call costs three times more than a traditional voice call.

"It is a myth that OTT communications are cheaper than the traditional calls," the group insists.

That might strike you as an odd statement. You would be hard pressed to find a single example, anywhere, where making a one-minute VoIP call costs more than a one-minute call, to the same location, using mobile or fixed networks.

The statement only makes sense when looked at it in terms of “total cost of ownership” or “total cost of use” for the customer, even when most consumers likely do not calculate costs in that way.

To the extent the statement is “true,” it is largely a function of high mobile data tariffs, not the actual cost of using VoIP or over the top messaging.