Trai releases consultation paper on regulating 'over-the-top' services

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today issued aconsultation paper inviting comments from the public and providers of telecom and allied telecom services on the regulatory framework for over-the-top (OTT) services seeking comments of all stakeholders.

Telecom service providers offering fixed and mobile telephony are currently being overwhelmed by online content, like Whats App, viber, WeChat, etc, known as over-the-top (OTT) applications and services.

The term over-the-top refers to applications and services which are accessible over the internet and ride on operators' networks offering internet access services e.g. social networks, search engines, amateur video aggregation sites, etc.

OTT providers make use of the telecom service providers' infrastructure to reach their customers and offer products / services that not only make money for them but also compete with the traditional services offered by telecom service providers.

Apart from  telecom service providers, these apps also compete with brick and mortar rivals e.g. e-commerce sites, banking etc. Today, users can directly access these applications online from any place, at any time, using a variety of internet connected consumer devices.

The rising penetration of smartphones (because of declining prices) and the up-gradation of access networks by the TSPs are among the important factors contributing to OTT growth.

Digitalization of content has reduced conservation, reproduction and distribution costs, which, in turn, has promoted the explosive growth in the supply of online content.

The broadband networks provided by incumbent telecom service providers are used as a platform by the OTT players for the development of new businesses. The growth of traffic apart, the OTT applications have created an increasing demand for faster broadband speed, which translates into a need for huge investments in network up-gradation by the telecom service providers.