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<ul><li><keyword id="1024053" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="telecom-regulators">Telecom regulators</keyword> on Monday rolled out a discussion paper on whether Over-the-top (OTT) services - <keyword id="790242" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="WhatsApp">Whatsapp</keyword>, <keyword id="6377887" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="skype">Skype</keyword> and Hike – should be regulated. </li><li>The paper mainly aims at economic and security matters since such apps are sometimes ‘misused’ to spread harmful rumours. </li><li>India’s telecom companies have been demanding the OTT services to also come under regulatory framework. </li></ul>India’s telecom regulator may regulate messaging services like WhatsApp, Hike and Skype in response to security concerns and possible misuse of such apps, according to media reports. These widely used messaging services, also known as Over The Top (OTT) services are the ones accessible over the internet and rely on network operators for use. The discussion paper titled, ‘Regulatory Framework for Over The Top Communications Services’ will analyse possible regulation and its implementation, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India <a href="https://thewire.in/tech/should-whatsapp-other-over-the-top-apps-be-regulated-telecom-regulator-to-decide">reportedly</a> said. <keyword id="6356988" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="trai">TRAI</keyword> has invited telecom industry’s views to identify which apps should be regulated, taking into consideration the cost, benefits and security concerns. Telecom companies have been asking for OTT service providers to be brought under regulatory framework because they have been operating without the usual telecom licensing obligations. Telecom regulators have also stated that OTT services <a href="https://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/trai-seeks-views-on-regulating-communication-apps-like-whatsapp-skype/66594993">lack</a> interoperability leading to dominance and accused them of abusing market power – a WhatsApp user can not connect over the call with another user on a different platform. Currently, the OTT service providers are governed by certain rules under the Information Technology Act and tax laws which are considered inadequate by the telecom industry. The paper has also sought views on if the licensing conditions should be refined and if regulation to ensure service quality should be upgraded. Security concerns The apps in question have recently invited scrutiny and controversy especially as they have often been misused to spread rumours, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/whatsapp-building-india-team-to-curb-fake-news-but-government-is-not-satisfied/articleshow/65292048.cms">fake news</a> or inappropriately divulge confidential personal information, which have proved difficult to contain by cyber security experts. OTT providers, on their part, have opposed suggestions of regulation as this would potentially curb innovation. WhatsApp has also taken a number of initiatives in an effort to combat the issue of <keyword id="2479020" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Fake-news">fake news</keyword>. It had released short clips explaining the users on how they can verify fraudulent messages. Earlier, WhatsApp has also reportedly told Indian regulators it was in the process of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/whatsapp-building-india-team-to-curb-fake-news-but-government-is-not-satisfied/articleshow/65292048.cms">building</a> a local team in India to help in its efforts to tackle fake news. See also: 
 
 
 



<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/whatsapp-has-a-new-radio-campaign-to-counter-fake-news-in-india/articleshow/65606213.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">WhatsApp has a new radio campaign to counter fake news in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/whatsapp-building-india-team-to-curb-fake-news-but-government-is-not-satisfied/articleshow/65292048.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">WhatsApp building India-team to curb fake news, but government is not satisfied</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/WhatsApp-is-dramatically-cutting-message-forwarding-after-viral-fake-news-led-to-lynchings/articleshow/65067967.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">WhatsApp is dramatically cutting message forwarding after viral fake news led to lynchings</a>

India’s telecom regulator is mulling regulation of messaging services platforms like Whatsapp and Hike

The Supreme Court has just allowed Centre’s plea to recover adjusted gross revenue from telecom service providers, according to IANS. As the news got out, Airtel’s share price fell drastically by 6.35% A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, upholded the definition of adjusted gross revenue formulated by Department of Telecom (DoT). "We have held that definition of AGR will prevail," the bench, also comprising Justices Vineet Saran and S Ravindra Bhat, said. "We have allowed the appeal of Department of Telecom and dismissed that of licensees (telcos)," the top court said while reading the operative portion of the judgement. The apex court said it had rejected all other submissions of the telecom companies. It added that the service providers would have to pay penalties and interests to the DoT. The bench made it clear that there would no further litigation on the issue and it would fix a time frame for calculation and payment of dues by the telecom companies With inputs from PTI

Airtel share price falls after Supreme Court verdict

<ul><li>The highest court of the country just upheld the Indian government's plea to demand huge sums of disputed levies from the telecom companies.</li><li>Airtel and Vodafone Idea may have to shell out ₹50,000 crore together to the Indian government after the latest Supreme Court.</li><li>The Department of Telecommunications believes that a whole lot of other earnings from dividends and handset sales should also be a part of it, while the companies contended that the levy should only be on the core telecom services revenue.</li></ul>Airtel and Vodafone Idea may have to shell out ₹50,000 crore together to the Indian government after the latest Supreme Court order that has upheld the demand for adjusted gross revenue (AGR) from Department of Telecom. Airtel and Vodafone-Idea's stock prices fall sharply. The latter losing nearly a fifth of their value in trade soon after the <keyword id="6360346" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="SC-verdict">SC verdict</keyword>. 
 
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 What is the AGR dispute? This is a dispute on how much licence and other fees has to be paid on the spectrum that telecom companies own. While telecom companies believe that they should pay the fees based on their earnings from the core telecom business only. But the Department of Telecommunications believes that a whole lot of other earnings from dividends and handset sales should also be a part of it. This would expand the scope of AGR and since it is an old dispute, it can be as high as ₹92,000 crore that all telcos have to pay up. The incumbent telecom companies of Vodafone-Idea and Bharti Airtel will have to pay the highest chunk of around ₹50,000 crore. The merged entity of Vodafone Idea has already borne the most brunt of the decision as its stock fell by 23% as soon as the news broke. Though Reliance Industries share price is not directly affected, if the government chooses to charge extra fees on handset sales, it will also affect Jio’s strategy going forward. It is known to sell handsets in large number of basic level handsets as it adds rural subscribers into its fold. It will affect the already fragile margins of the company. However, the financial muscle of Airtel and Vodafone-Idea will be much weaker after they pay up these dues, and their weakness directly and indirectly be to Reliance Jio's advantage. More importantly, this will also reduce the amount of money available with these companies to bid for the upcoming 5G spectrum auction. The story is developing.

Airtel and Vodafone-Idea get a devastating blow from India's Supreme Court

<ul><li>Global ratings agency Fitch says that there’s going to be no relief for trouble laden <keyword id="1553175" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vodafone-Idea">Vodafone Idea</keyword> and <keyword id="15491" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Airtel">Airtel</keyword>. </li><li>Airtel, Vodafone and Jio have all hiked their tariffs, which will come into effect from December 1.</li><li>The government has given a two-year relief to Airtel and Vodafone Idea to pay up their AGR dues.</li></ul>After a lot of bad news, the Indian <keyword id="6354776" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Telecom">telecom</keyword> sector received good news week – like two year moratorium on spectrum payments of ₹92,000 crore; and the top three telecom companies also raised tariffs. While stock markets have been cheering the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/voda-idea-bharti-airtel-shares-zoom-on-rate-hike-move/articleshow/72125884.cms">move</a>, rating agency Fitch is not as easily impressed. “These are unlikely to be sufficient to offset the impact of a recent Supreme Court judgement for incumbents Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea,” said the report. The agency gave a negative outlook to the sector due to heightened financial risk associated with the large unpaid AGR-related dues. In October, the Supreme Court held that telecom department’s definition of aggregate gross revenues (AGR) is right and they should pay up for non-telecom revenues as well. Fitch placed a negative rating action on Bharti Airtel, even if the company pays its AGR dues worth ₹41,000 crores. “This is because Bharti's FFO adjusted net leverage will then deteriorate to a level significantly higher than the threshold in FY20, above which we would take negative rating action. We will resolve the rating watch Negative on Bharti's ratings once we have greater clarity on the timing and financial impact of the regulatory dues and any remedial measures,” said the report. The numerous fees that Airtel has to pay has also led to speculation that the telecom giant might have to sell stake in subsidiaries. “Bharti may be able to partly fund the unpaid dues through a planned stake sale of $2.5 billion-3.5 billion in the combined Bharti Infratel (Infratel) and Indus Tower entity, which is awaiting regulatory approval of the merger,” an earlier Fitch report had said. Meanwhile, Airtel and Vodafone Idea are in the process of filing review petition in the Supreme Court on Friday against the AGR judgment of the top court last month, said an IANS report. Recently, Vodafone Idea posted a massive loss of ₹50,921 crore for the second quarter. Meanwhile, the telecom giant also continues to lose subscribers. Its subscriber base went down from 375 million to 372.4 million in September. Airtel too lost users in September, going from 328 million subscribers to 325.5 million.

Tariff hike and government relief not enough for Airtel and Vodafone says rating agency

Sunday wasn’t that lazy this time! Indians woke up to a viral storm on twitter with AIB (All India Bakchod), which got ‘roasted’ by moral police last month for their vulgar roast of actors is once again in news. This time the bunch of young standup comedians have a made video on net neutrality. Dipping their biscuits on the steaming morning tea, the viewers got an explained idea on the benefits of net neutrality. 
As per a news report in The Economic Times, the video explaining net neutrality, which was vastly shared by the netizens including Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan ended up being removed from Facebook due to unusually high activity. Though the takedown was temporary, this sparked a huge uproar in the social media. 
 
Indian telecom sector is undergoing a ‘to be or not to be’ internal conflict on net neutrality. Several telecom operators are pitching to price Internet usage according to their wish, which would mean the websites paying the operator would load fast where as the others suffer slow bandwidth. While some countries in the world including the USA have supported net neutrality, India is still to take a call on it. TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) is asking for opinions from commoners on the same at <a href="http://www.savetheinternet.in">www.savetheinternet.in</a>. 
 
AIB’s video brought in comparison with an entry to a children’s park where kids are charged for each ride they take. As per the financial daily, the video went viral and helped the already growing online movement called "Save the Internet", and picked up steam as more startups, politicians, actors and other public figures came on board over the weekend. As the takedown of the video was noticed in Facebook by AIB members, the social networking website acted swiftly to restore it after several complaints surfaced. "Can you check now? there was a bug and it is fixed. The post should be visible again," Facebook's growth manager Abhishek Nag tweeted in response to a query by AIB group member Gursimran Khamba. 
 
The ET has reported, Shiv Sena Youth wing President Aaditya Thackeray on Sunday urged the TRAI chairman to halt the move to kill OTT services, which includes popular apps such as Whatsapp, Viber, Skype and so on, pointing out that access to Internet "cannot be governed by the commerce of the telecom operator, who should be rather focusing on bettering the services people pay for". The paper has drawn widespread flak from net and free speech activists, who feel it favours the interests of telecom companies, and have been asking people to join the movement to "Save the Internet" from telecom operators who want greater control over their network. 
 
On Sunday, several actors, such as Farhan Akhtar, Alia Bhatt, Kriti Sanon, and Siddharth Malhotra tweeted about net neutrality and save the Internet. Several political figures including Ajay Maken, Ahmed Patel, Sanjay Jha also tweeted in support of net neutrality. 
 
Image: Indiatimes

Net Neutrality: AIB video on net neutrality removed! The reaction shocked Facebook!

In what would become India’s largest telecom merger, <keyword id="15492" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vodafone">Vodafone</keyword> India and Idea Cellular is pushing for individual tower sale at the earliest. The two telecom majors, according to Economic Times news report, have mandated Morgan Stanley and <keyword id="189016" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bank-of-America-Merrill-Lynch">Bank of America-Merrill Lynch</keyword> to finalize buyers for their towers. Vodafone India has 11,000 odd towers in India, while Idea has 9,900 captive towers. The merger will likely be completed by 2018. Once done, Vodafone-Idea would become the biggest telecom company in India, while the current market leader <keyword id="6354287" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bharti-Airtel">Bharti Airtel</keyword> will be pushed back. The ET report also says that Vodafone has asked Morgan Stanley to figure out potential buyers for its 42% stake in <keyword id="6375231" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indus-Towers">Indus Towers</keyword>. This tower company is a three-way joint venture between Vodafone, Bharti Infratel and Idea. Earlier Vodafone UK had kept Indus Towers outside the proposed <keyword id="4322447" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="vodafone-india-idea">Vodafone India-Idea</keyword> merger.

Vodafone India-Idea merger on fast track: Individual towers to be sold at the earliest

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A federal judge issued a temporary injunction against a <keyword id="6355838" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-york">New York</keyword> law requiring affordable <keyword id="17591" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Broadband">broadband</keyword>.</li><li>The law, known as the Affordable Broadband Act, was passed in April and would apply to about 7 million low-income New Yorkers. </li><li>In issuing the injunction, the judge said the law would cause "irreparable harm" to <keyword id="6357247" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Internet">internet</keyword> service providers. </li></ul>A federal judge <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/ny-telecom-injunction.pdf">issued a temporary injunction</a> Friday on a New York State law slated to take effect next week that would force internet service providers to provide affordable high-speed internet access to low-income state residents.The law, known as the Affordable Broadband Act, was <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-government/ny-nys-cuomo-law-mandatory-low-cost-internet-for-low-income-families-20210416-nwvu6flobngdjlfnrrny642i5m-story.html">passed by the state legislature in April and signed into law by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo</a>, a Democrat. It requires internet service providers that serve more than 20,000 households to offer low-income residents broadband with download speeds of at least 25 megabits-per-second for $15 a month.Under the law, companies can charge low-income residents slightly more, but no more than $20, for faster broadband with download speeds of at least 200 megabits-per-second.The governor's office said the law would apply to about 7 million New Yorkers in 2.7 million households, according to a report from <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/telecom-titans-cut-the-power-on-ny-plan-for-affordable-internet/">Courthouse News Service</a>. The discounted rates would apply to New Yorkers who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, Medicaid, and supplemental nutrition program (SNAP) benefits. But New York's Eastern District Judge Dennis R. Hurley on Friday sided with a group of telecom companies that sued to block the law from taking effect.He agreed that, if enacted, the law could cause "irreparable harm" and "unrecoverable losses" to the telecom companies, particularly smaller ones because they'd face penalties if they didn't meet requirements set by the law or because they'd lose revenue by charging customers less, as <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/11/22530128/new-york-affordable-internet-15-injunction">The Verge</a> reported.One company, Empire Communications, argued it would have to turn down a federal grant to expand its service if the law went into effect because it "could not afford to invest in this buildout because a large percentage of its potential customers would be eligible for the discounted monthly rates," as Courthouse <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">News</keyword> Service reported."While a telecommunications giant like Verizon may be able to absorb such a loss, others may not," Hurley wrote in his decision to issue the injunction. In his decision, Hurley also agreed with the telecom companies that the New York law interferes with the work of the Federal Communications Commission because it "regulates within the field of interstate communications." The office of Gov. Cuomo said it planned to push forward on the legislation."We always knew big telecom would pull out all the stops to protect their profits at the expense of the New Yorkers who need access to this vital utility the most," said Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, in a statement to Courthouse News. "We are going to continue to fight for them."​

A federal judge has blocked a New York law requiring internet service providers offer $15 broadband to low-income residents

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=trai">Telecom Regulatory Authority of India</a> (TRAI) is going to examine whether telcos cause <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=call+drops">call drops</a> deliberately for some tariff plans to make more money. 
 
Telecom secretary Rakesh Garg said some <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=telecom+operators">telecom operators</a> have a system of giving free calls for <keyword id="6395111" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="call-drops">call drops</keyword>. “We have asked the TRAI whether this can be made mandatory for all operators and to also examine if there are any tariff plans which incentivise call drops," he said. 
 
But, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=bharti+airtel">Bharti Airtel</a> CEO Gopal Vittal had dismissed the notion and expressed that in an era of per-second billing, operators stood to gain little by making subscribers redial numbers after call drops. 
 
But, the government rejected the claim by telecom operators that problems in setting up telecom towers were to be blamed for call drops. 
 
"How can anyone say so? The incidence of call drops has worsened in about the last seven months and it isn't as though they are facing problems in putting up towers in the last seven months," the secretary said. 
 
During a meeting with telecom industry CEOs, Garg shared the findings of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=department+of+telecommunications">Department of Telecommunications</a>' internal audit committee, which found that lack of network optimisation, inadequate investment in networks and the inability to deal with an explosion of data growth were the main causes for the deteriorating quality of services. 
 
Meanwhile, Garg said <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=ravi+shankar+prasad">Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad</a> had already written to chief ministers to ease rules of installing towers. 
 
"There can't be a legislation for everything. We need to do this through discussion and persuasion. Towers have long been installed in this country without legislation and we are ready to help operators in their attempts to install more towers," he said. 
 
On August 17, during a joint news conference by three leading telecom industry bodies, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=vodafone">Vodafone</a> India CEO Sunil Sood had maintained that there was nothing more that operators could do to 'fix' the situation and the incidence of call drops would only rise if the government did not help the industry in setting up new towers and controlling fears related to radiation. 
 
They also termed call drops as normal as operators were making the transition from 2G and 3G networks to 4G. 
 
But, the government's audit found that operators aren't investing sufficiently in 2G voice networks in the 1800 MHz band and were instead focusing on offering high-speed <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=4G">4G data services</a> in this band. 
 
(Image: Thinkstock)

Are telecom companies knowingly fleecing customers via call drops?

<keyword id="399377" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mahanagar-Telephone-Nigam-Limited">Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited</keyword> (<keyword id="28256" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="MTNL">MTNL</keyword>) rolled out a mobile application for Android smartphones users, using which customers can lodge service complaints, pay bills and book new connection, as per a PTI report. 
 As a part ‘Good Governance Day’ celebrations, the mobile app was launched by <keyword id="46149" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Telecom-minister">Telecom Minister</keyword> Ravi Shankar Prasad. 
 
"MTNL launched an Android-based application, which will help in meeting objectives under Good Governance. Through this app, customer will be able to access MTNL services without need for visiting the MTNL office," according to a statement issued by the telecom firm. 
 
The state-run telecom firm has also announced with free one month broadband rental scheme along with Jodi plan for pre-paid customers. 
 
Under broadband rental scheme, customers can buy MTNL broadband connection till January 26, and they need not pay first month rental for scheme priced at and below Rs 999. 
 
On the other hand, under Jodi plan, the telecom firm has announced that a pre-paid users can opt for one more MTNL pre-paid number within same city. Calls made between these two numbers will be charged 20 paise per minute as compared to 40 paise a minute otherwise, the news agency added. 
 
MTNL also added that Jodi plan customers will also be given free 100 minutes of local calls on its network and 200MB of mobile Internet usage.

You Searched For "telecom news" and got 9 results

India’s telecom regulator is mulling regulation of messaging services platforms like Whatsapp and Hike

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Net Neutrality: AIB video on net neutrality removed! The reaction shocked Facebook!

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Vodafone India-Idea merger on fast track: Individual towers to be sold at the earliest

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A federal judge has blocked a New York law requiring internet service providers offer $15 broadband to low-income residents

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Are telecom companies knowingly fleecing customers via call drops?

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MTNL Users Can Now Register Complaints, Pay Bills Using The Newly-launched App

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