Trai cannot treat OTTs as telcos: Broadband body

New Delhi: India’s telecom regulator must not treat over-the-top apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, and Google as substitutes of telecom carriers, and the former cannot be regulated under the India Telegraph Act (ITA), according to an independent industry body.

“The argument that OTT services should be regulated under the same licensing regime that applies to TSPs (telecom service providers) is incorrect and erroneously overlooks the vast and critical differences between the two entities,” telecom policy think tank Broadband India Forum said in a statement on Tuesday.