The IAMAI which stands for the Internet and mobile association of India has spoken out against arguments made by telecom operators and industry associations over the losses on calling caused by OTT services. The industry body says that these mere ‘bald statements’ made by them don’t take facts or financial data into consideration.
It was previously suggested by the ISPAI that TRAI should adopt the ‘same services same rule’ to define net neutrality. However, the IAMAI which stand for interests of internet companies argues that such cannot be not the case as VOIP calls cannot be brought under this category mainly since they’re primarily different from traditional calling.
The Economic Times is reporting that a call placed on the internet costs around three times more than a traditional one. For example, the charge for a one-minute HD call from Skype will be around Rs 3 based on the bandwidth and network type. So basically, user will be paying Rs 180 for an hour which is way higher than the cost incurred using the usual means.
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To put it in data usage, it would be around 25MB to 35MB for voice and approximately 240MP for video, each minute. Also, other features from OTTs like chat apps and transferring of audio, video and more are increasing data usage all the more. And this is mainly why such services aren’t affecting revenues of telecom providers.
The IAMAI also went on to say that the arguments made by telcos, COAI and Aupsi are simply for business motives and to influence regulation. It made this clear to the TRAI back when the regulatory body was accepting views up till May 8. Recommendations on the issue are yet to be disclosed and they will be based on the views from the public and industry which were collected over the past month.