Whatsappening? Telcos call out tech companies over business SMSes

An industry grouping representing India’s top three telcos has accused global consumer-technology majors, such as Microsoft and Amazon, of “presumably circumventing and bypassing the legal telecom route” by using WhatsApp and other unregulated platforms to send enterprise messages to customers, causing a likely Rs 3,000-crore annual revenue loss to both the Centre and the service providers.

“Renowned international corporates such as Amazon and Microsoft are presumably circumventing and bypassing the legal telecom route by disseminating messages to Indian customers via WhatsApp, Telegram,” the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) wrote in a letter to telecom secretary Neeraj Mittal. “This is not only an alleged gross violation of licensing and security norms but is also a clear loss of revenue for the exchequer and also loss of forex earnings.”