{"id":17285,"date":"2023-09-18T16:55:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T11:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/?p=17285"},"modified":"2023-09-18T16:55:06","modified_gmt":"2023-09-18T11:25:06","slug":"regulatory-mechanisms-for-ott-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/18-09-2023\/regulatory-mechanisms-for-ott-services","title":{"rendered":"Regulatory Mechanisms for OTT Services"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Government Policies and Interventions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">News<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The<strong> Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)<\/strong> recently invited responses to a consultation paper released on a <strong>regulatory mechanism for over-the-top (OTT) communication services.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">About<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The paper mentions the <strong>selective banning of OTT services, <\/strong>the discussion on which came after a Parliamentary Standing Committee suggested exploring this option due to the unrest caused by these platforms which have mass reach and impact.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is important to note that <strong>only OTT communication services<\/strong> like WhatsApp, Signal, Meta, Google Meet, Zoom, X, etc. were discussed in the consultation paper and <strong>not the \u2018content\u2019 OTTs<\/strong> such as Netflix, Amazon Prime etc.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Content regulation<\/strong> is an altogether different subject and it <strong>comes under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) and not the TRAI.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The TRAI has also asked stakeholders <strong>to define OTT,<\/strong> and a <strong>proposal on cost-sharing mechanisms <\/strong>between Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) and OTT services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">What is the Conflict Between TSPs and OTTs?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Telecom Service Providers are of the opinion that <strong>OTTs should be regulated and charged<\/strong> because they use and thrive on the infrastructure built by operators over the years. <strong>Currently, they aren\u2019t.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>OTT communications services have led to <strong>erosion of revenues for the telcos.&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These platforms offer users an array of services (MMS, instant messaging to voice and video calls) which <strong>circumvents the need for traditional telecom services,<\/strong> particularly voice calls and text messages, leading to a <strong>significant reduction in the revenue streams of telecom companies.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>OTT communication service providers neither contribute to the exchequer nor make investments like the TSPs in the spread of network infrastructure<\/strong> in the country.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The OTT communication service providers <strong>take a free ride on TSP funded networks<\/strong> without contributing to the setting up and maintaining digital infrastructure for access networks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">What is the Demand?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There should be a <strong>policy framework to enable fair share contribution from large OTT service providers to telecommunication network<\/strong> operators based on assessable criteria like number of subscribers or data usage.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To ensure fairness and compensate for the increased data demands, <strong>OTTs should pay a fair and reasonable fair share charge to TSPs.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The funds received by TSPs from OTTs will support the <strong>expansion of networks and enhance contribution to the exchequer.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>OTT services should be considered as the <strong>same services offered under the telecom licence granted by the Government.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>All OTT services should be governed by the same set of rules <\/strong>irrespective of whether they are provided by an operator on its own network or through the internet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">What is the Argument for Banning OTT Services?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>OTTs obtain the location of the customers and can easily bar access.<\/strong> Once the OTT communication services are under license this barring will be much easier to implement.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>TSP\u2019s networks are capable of selectively blocking the OTT<\/strong> subject to details like IP addresses provided by the Competent Authority.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The IAMAI believes that there is no need to implement additional regulations governing OTT services, or even a regulatory framework for the selective banning of OTT services, <strong>as they are adequately regulated under the existing IT Act, 2000, Consumer Protection Act, 2019, <\/strong>and other associated Acts and Rules.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/ccidist-ws\/th\/th_delhi\/issues\/52302\/OPS\/GIVBP1DL1.1+GMLBP1GHQ.1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TH<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Syllabus: GS2\/Government Policies and Interventions News About What is the Conflict Between TSPs and OTTs? What is the Demand? What is the Argument for Banning OTT Services? Source: TH&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17286,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17285\/revisions\/17286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}