Price wars: Startups, smaller OTTs may be exempted from fair share charge

Telecom operators said they were willing to accommodate rising data traffic generated by all Indian startups, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and smaller over-the-top (OTT) service providers, but want the large traffic generators to pay up the proposed fair share charge.

However, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has said in its latest submissions to the government that four-five large traffic generators (LTGs) can’t be exempt from the charge.

While these players haven’t been named, it is widely understood that global streaming services like Netflix and Amazon are among the LTGs.