Answer: India is significantly lagging most of the world in terms of net access speed with severely low penetration and use of broadband which is still not common for most of her citizens. Considering such low internet penetration and the strong leveller of social inequity the internet is with social entrepreneurs constantly innovating using it, the internet should not at this stage be subject to government intervention.
Question 2: Should the Internet/OTT players offering communication services (voice, messaging and video call services through applications (resident either in the country or outside) be brought under the licensing regime? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: No. This would reduce the customers' choice once they have already purchased access to the internet through their ISPs (which are already regulated). Since the internet is growing rapidly and continues to grow rapidly with customers historically automatically choosing to make informed choices in the absence of government intervention, there is no need for government intervention to regulate these markets that might stifle entrepreneurship currently blooming on the internet.Question 3: Is the growth of Internet/OTT impacting the traditional revenue stream of Telecom operators/Telecom operators? If so, is the increase in data revenues of the Telecom Operators sufficient to compensate for this impact? Please comment with reasons.
Answer: No. Phone services still continue to be used identically through telecom operators for those preferring audio or text communication via phone since internet on phone is still too expensive as compared to the same bandwidth on laptops and computers that allow audio communication. Further, audio communication via laptop since it is usually not mobile is rare and still limited only to being with other users on laptop/computer with currently available online services. The conversation that continues over the internet thus is identical to email in earlier generations which would be absurd to try to regulate without any precedence globally except for the purposes of snooping by states on their citizens.Question 4: Should the Internet/OTT players pay for use of the Telecom Operators network over and above data charges paid by consumers? If yes, what pricing options can be adopted? Could such options include prices based on bandwidth consumption? Can prices be used as a means of product/service differentiation? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: No. Once a service like the internet is sold based on the neutral principle of quantum of data or speed, one cannot then charge again separately unless one is providing an additional service which is not part of the internet. Since OTT services are very much an inherent part of the same internet that does not require an ISP to distinguish what type of traffic it is carrying, it should not be allowed for the already regulated ISPs to penalize customers and dodge customer protection principles by trying to prevent OTTs to customers. The ISPs should not penalize customers by asking the customers to pay more for the OTTs that customers have already available to them for free because of the internet's architecture, via the data or speed plan that customers have purchased and are paying for.Question 5: Do you agree that imbalances exist in the regulatory environment in the operation of Internet/OTT players? If so, what should be the framework to address these issues? How can the prevailing laws and regulations be applied to Internet/OTT players (who operate in the virtual world) and compliance enforced? What could be the impact on the economy? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: No. Prevailing laws and regulations apply to all companies doing business. OTTs are like any other company under the purview of those laws. It appears impractical considering the networked reality of the current global economy, that we should impose additional regulation on them because of the medium via which they do business or because of the obsolete technology they might appear to be similar to but are not.Question 6: How should the security concerns be addressed with regard to Internet/OTT players providing communication services? What security conditions such as maintaining data records, logs etc. need to be mandated for such Internet/OTT players? And, how can compliance with these conditions be ensured if the applications of such Internet/OTT players reside outside the country? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: Communciation services via Internet in this country is still a very small market. Any such security concerns would necessarily be global and require solutions at that level. It would be difficult to enforce such a security standard locally and thus makes any such monitoring locally impossible till a global standard is agreed to if such a security concern can exist. Current laws for monitoring origin of malicious email by investigating physical internet access points via IP should suffice identically till then.Question 7: How should the Internet/OTT players offering app services ensure security, safety and privacy of the consumer? How should they ensure protection of consumer interest? Please comment with justifications
Answer: They should be held up to standard privacy laws applicable to any company doing business. Customer should be allowed to make educated choice by publicity campaigns by government spreading awareness about such concerns.Question 8: In what manner can the proposals for a regulatory framework for OTTs in India draw from those of ETNO, referred to in para or the best practices? And, what practices should be proscribed by regulatory fiat? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: No. Ideally we should follow the American model that encourages innovation. Recently, such proposals for regulating online services were voted against in the US.Question 9: What are your views on net-neutrality in the Indian context? How should the various principles be dealt with? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: The internet is critical to the strengthening of democracy because of it's strong potential to reduce the widening gap in terms of opportunities because of social inequity. Currently the market is in a growth phase and government intervention now is likely to stifle innovation by entrepreneurs that is allowing consumers to be more aware and more naturally integrated with global markets.Question 10: What forms of discrimination or traffic management practices are reasonable and consistent with a pragmatic approach? What should or can be permitted? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: Traffic management practices should be independent of and consistent regardless of content embedded in traffic. These are already reasonably implemented by almost all service providers by selling plans based on volume of data or speed of access thereto.Question 11: Should the Telecom Operators be mandated to publish various traffic management techniques used for different OTT applications? Is this a sufficient condition to ensure transparency and a fair regulatory regime?
Answer: No. Such varied and nuanced management would complicate choices for customers and serve against the interest of transparency.Question 12: How should the conducive and balanced environment be created such that Telecom Operators are able to invest in network infrastructure and CAPs are able to innovate and grow? Who should bear the network upgradation costs? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: Customers should pay based on quantum of data they consume. Market forces shall determine whether customers can pay more for higher consumption of data and consequent network upgradation.Question 13: Should Telecom Operators be allowed to implement non-price based discrimination of services? If so, under what circumstances are such practices acceptable? What restrictions, if any, need to be placed so that such measures are not abused? What measures should be adopted to ensure transparency to consumers? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: No. Such discrimination would distort a currently fragile market and stifle growth.Question 14: Is there a justification for allowing differential pricing for data access and OTT communication services? If so, what changes need to be brought about in the present tariff and regulatory framework for telecommunication services in the country? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: No justification since as per globally recognized design principles they are considered identical as simply "data". Trying to distinguish infringes on the consumer's choice.Question 15: Should OTT communication service players be treated as Bulk User of Telecom Services (BuTS)? How should the framework be structured to prevent any discrimination and protect stakeholder interest? Please comment with justification.
Answer: No. OTT services operate on a different and independent framework than telecom in some sense since they are on the abstracted layer of the internet. Since they are as susceptible to traffic delays as any other user on the internet like you or me and treated identically everywhere on the internet, they should also pay identically and not be discriminated against by holding them comparable to a different standard of underlying telecom layer of telecom operators.Question 16: What framework should be adopted to encourage India specific OTT apps? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: Incentivization should be in the form of greater availability of market priced internet infrastructure, connectivity, tax breaks domestically when such services are set up initially. The government should not encourage emergence of handicaps based on price distortions or government regulation though.Question 17: If the App based/OTT communication service players are to be licensed, should they be categorised as ASP or CSP? If so, what should be the framework? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: Preferably not licensed. If they must be treated as a service provider, they should be identified as ASP but with zero government regulation on them.Question 18: Is there a need to regulate subscription charges for App based/OTT communication services? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: No. Market is too small and too niche for government to regulate. Currently, entrepreneurs should be given space to innovate and not be shackled.Question 19: What steps should be taken by the Government for regulation of non-communication App based/OTT players? Please comment with justifications.
Answer: None. Following global precedent.Question 20: Are there any other issues that have a bearing on the subject discussed?
Answer: Neutral and unregulated internet is key to Democracy. Internet and availability of connectivity particularly including using Over The Top services is a key pillar of an active and alert citizenry that is informed and networked globally. Regulations such as the proposed stifle that. Please do not allow the Indian democracy to be subdued to ensure greater profitability of TSPs who are acting as a cartel in seeking to regulate the internet and penalize consumers against globally accepted notions of fairness.
