TRAI has dropped another bomb and this time it has recommended that calls made over the Internet be allowed to be received on telephones rather than just computers, a move that would increase competition in the fast-growing telecom market.
Current State of Internet Telephony:
Last year, DoT was mulling over a decision to block VoIP products like Skype/Yahoo/Gtalk/Net2Phone/Dialpad etc. for following reasons:
- Security : It’s difficult to crack down on calls made using VoIP.
- Perceived Loss of Revenue:
As per regulation, all licensed service providers have to pay 12.5% service tax and 6% of revenue share to the government. This 19% of tax is being bypassed by the illegal Internet service providers and that’s why ISPs are wary of all these VoIP tools (like Yahoo, Skype, GTalk etc) – source
As per 2007 data, these unlicensed companies provide 30 mn minutes of Internet telephony per month to corporates, call centres and BPOs in the country, resulting in huge loss of revenue.
TRAI’s Recommendations
Now that govt. has realized that it’s not possible to curb VoIP, TRAI sees a huge value in providing Internet Telephony:
There seems to be complete market failure as our subscribers are denied advanced value-added services in contrast to world scenario where such Internet-based services are very popular [ET]
Summary of TRAI’s recommendations:
- Termination of Internet telephony calls on PSTN/PLMN and vice-versa.
- National Long Distance (NLD) operators shall be permitted to connect to ISPs through public Internet (Internet cloud) for unrestricted Internet telephony.
- ISPs and NLD shall have mutual agreement for unrestricted Internet telephony.
- No change in existing IUC regime.
- TEC shall identify distinct number resources for Internet Telephony subscribers.
- Telephone numbers from identified blocks shall be allocated to ISPs, UASPs, BSOs & CMSPs for Internet telephony.
- Emergency number dialing is not mandated to ISPs.
- All ISPs interested to provide unrestricted Internet telephony shall install Lawful Interception equipment.
The discussion has just started and be prepared for another looong debate over this topic.
Download TRAI’s recommendation
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Its always a matter of time for transitioning from Data-over-Voice networks TO Voice-over-Data networks. At a technology/infrastructure layer there is already a convergence. After all, Voice is just one application over Data networks.
Its the business side of things that needs to be disrupted and that is hard. Cost-per-Bit of data transferred is still exceptionally high for Voice and SMS. I doubt if telco’s will let go their current business models and transition that easily.
-Mahesh
Celebrating Life…
PS: TringMe guys must have celebrated the bomb drop, i guess
Now I can have a India number in US plugged to my internet connection where anyone from india can call me. Wow just waiting for Reliance or Airtel to come up with these new phones..
or may be Vonage or Lingo go to India since they already have the technology….who ever does it first might have huge number of NRIs as its subscribers..
This is a great step forward. It shall lower the cost of telephony for every one. More importantly we can see lots of new startups that wil cater to the requirements of this new system.
There appears to be a lot of organized opposition to this recommendation. We have to wait and see if DOT accepts it. If accepted, we will almost surely see a lot of startup activity in this area.
hi,
Internet telephony service provider in this case also depends on the quality of voice and reliability one is looking for. There are certain service providers who may be charging less, but the voice quality they provide is extremely poor.