India begins consultation process for regulating OTTs

livemint.com:

New Delhi: India’s telecom regulator has started the process of consultation for regulating over-the-top or OTT services such as Whatsapp, Signal, Telegram and others, where it has sought stakeholder views on selective banning of some services. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has asked stakeholders technical challenges in selective banning of specific OTT services and websites in specific regions of the country for a specific period, further, which classes of OTT services should be covered under selective banning and provisions and mechanism for such a regulatory framework.

“Whether there is a need to put in place a regulatory framework for selective banning of OTT services under the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, 2017 or any other law, in force," the regulator has asked in its paper. The regulator also asked whether there is a need for a collaborative framework between OTT communication service providers and the licensed telecommunication service providers.

This will be the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) second attempt to regulate OTTs following the telecom department letter to the regulator to reconsider its earlier recommendations given that OTT services had seen a huge growth in the past few years, reaching a mature stage which needed a holistic relook. Trai had first attempted consultation on regulating OTTs prior to 2020 and decided at that time that it wasn’t the time to delve into regulation.

“The Authority is of the view that a fresh consultation process may be initiated to frame suitable regulatory framework for OTT. In this regard, a consultation paper on regulatory mechanisms for OTT Communication Services, and Selective Banning