‘Regulate OTTs, else ease licence burden of telcos’

Mumbai: Telcos have cited WhatsApp’s recent privacy policy changes as an example of how over-the-top (OTT) communication players, or apps, have no obligation to ensure privacy of consumers, while underlining the need to regulate such entities to bring them on par with carriers which offer similar services but are bound by licence norms.

In a recent letter to telecom secretary Anshu Prakash, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) — the industry body that represents telcos — further said that if the government is unable to bring communication apps under similar regulation as the carriers, then in order to ensure a level playing field with OTT communication players, the regulatory obligations on operators should be relaxed and new norms such as Traffic Management Practices (TMP) for net neutrality should not be enforced.