Subject: About Regulating the OTT services
From: Harvinder Singh
Date: 28-Mar-15 11:11 PM
To: advqos@trai.gov.in

Hi Team,

I have read the consultation paper, which is in plain simple words- a conspiracy against consumers to help the Telcos gain more profit.

Sir, i would like to point out few observations i have about the consultation paper and i would quote those points.


This is utter nonsense from a consumer perspective. TRAI was made to save consumer's money not help gaining more profit Telcos. The above statement is like saying "If your shop is running profitable then you should have your own road. THE TELCOS ARE SUPPOSED TO PROVIDE DATA USING THEIR INFRASTRUCTURE BECAUSE WE PAY FOR IT. THEY SHOULD NOT EVEN CARE WHICH WEBSITE OR WHICH PROTOCOL IS USING THAT DATA.

The traditional income model of the operators, based on subscriptions and metered services, mainly voice and messaging, is showing signs of running its course. At the same time, growing OTT communication services use the TSPs’ networks and compete with the very same TSPs’ own proprietary services.

 The model of operators is not only voice and messaging. It also includes data transmission for which they charge. If they lose money in messaging they can easily make it from data charges.

In 2013, the worldwide annual SMS traffic was around 8.16 trillion12 messages, when compared to 18.3 trillion messages by OTT players. The OTT messaging traffic was expected to double in 2014. The messaging traffic fell from 5346 million in June 2013 to 4367 million in June 2014, a decline of 18.3%. This decrease can be attributed almost entirely to an increase in traffic of OTT messaging apps.

Again- Decrease can be compensated in Data charges. The OTT messages are not sent via some magic spell they use data packets and TELCOS charge for that data packets. So i would call this a foul cry and not customer friendly at all.

OTT providers do not have any obligation to ensure availability of service at all times. Using a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, services of OTT providers can be shut down by exhausting processing resources or network bandwidth. Recently, Facebook manipulated information posted on 689,000 users' home pages and found it could make people feel more positive or negative through a process of "emotional contagion". Another major challenge is the widecirculation of obscene or pornographic videos through these apps which is very divisive in a society with strongly divergent views on moral standards and obscenity.

India is a democratic nation and in a democratic nation there is no place for censorship and restricting people's choice of viewing certain things. If there is a kid viewing pornography it's their parent's  duty to tell him that this is bad not Telcos or govt's. PLEASE DON'T FALL FOR THIS PROPAGANDA.

In the closure i would like to say- 

The above points do not even have a valid points they are biased and they seem to serve only one purpose which is gaining more profit by bullying consumers. India is a developing nation, the data usage will be increasing day by day and Telcos which benefit from that. The internet is a place for creativity and there is no need for restriction on that. I would be hoping a reply from the team who will read this message. 

Please do not serve the interest of telecom lobby, serve the nation
 

Thanks & Regards,
Harvinder Singh Sidhu
Contact No: +919884413942