OTTs in India using 5G networks without paying up: COAI DG
Cellular Operators Association of India Director General S P Kochhar on Thursday made a case for sharing profit between OTT players and telecom companies for using 5G networks. «While telcos carry their traffic of voice and data, majority of the use of these networks is done by OTT players who load these networks with massive amounts of data which they carry to the end users.
»They get it from content providers, put it on their platform and deliver it to the end users without paying anything to the network providers who have created the network for them to roll on," Kochhar said.
OTT players, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Zee5, SonyLIV have significant user base in India.
He said over-the-top platforms benefit from the roll-out of advanced technologies like 5G.
«It is like building a house and staying in one floor and other floors are given out on rent which are used by the tenant for commercial purposes but he doesn't pay the rent.
»This is very silly. If I have built something and I give it out on rent, I expect some value to come out of it.
