OTTs may have to pay access charge to telcos

Social media intermediaries like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter, and over-the-top (OTT) players like Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+Hotstar may have to pay a carriage charge to telecom service providers once the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and department of telecommunications (DoT) finalise the contours of a new regulatory regime encompassing them.

Data, particularly video, comprises 70% of the overall traffic flow on telecom networks, and this would grow further with the rollout of 5G services. With such growth of data/ video, telcos have to keep on increasing their carriage capacity and backhaul networks, which entails investments, and it has been felt they should be compensated for them.