OTTs voice concern, say draft telecom Bill will kill innovation

The draft telecommunication Bill has once again created a deep divide between the telecom operators and over-the-top (OTT) players over the move to bring the latter under a licensing framework. Such a deep divide between the two sides was last visible in 2015 over the issue of net neutrality when the telcos felt that they were losing revenues on account of OTT players providing calling and messaging services but not paying any regulatory levies.

While no OTT player spoke on record, Broadband India Forum, the association of technology players, which has members like Facebook, Microsoft, Intel, among others, voiced a strong protest over the proposal to bring OTTs under licensing framework in the new Bill. “Some of the provisions of the draft Indian Telecommunications Bill, 2022, unfortunately appear to be prohibitive rather than facilitating/enabling for the larger digital ecosystem in the country,” BIF president TV Ramachandran said in a statement on Friday.