The Department of Telecommunications (DOT) believes over-the-top (OTT) players and technology companies have no reason to be concerned about telecom companies flouting net neutrality rules, as the operators are bound by licence conditions in ensuring that internet traffic remains non-discriminatory.
While the government has not made any decision on a revenue share between telcos and OTT players, the issue will have no bearing on net neutrality if at all some sort of mechanism is decided in the future, DoT officials said. The issue around net neutrality has again gained steam, on the back of demands by telcos to have a regulatory mechanism for OTT players and a share of revenue from large app makers for their usage of the telecom network. OTT players have been pushing back, saying they are already governed under the IT Act and any move to further regulate them would stifle innovation. App makers have also opposed the revenue share demand, saying that it would hurt net neutrality.
DoT officials told ET that all telecom operators are mandated to follow the net neutrality principles under their licence conditions and can’t throttle internet traffic. “The net neutrality rules clearly state telcos can’t engage in any discriminatory treatment of internet traffic and the companies are bound by licence conditions,” said an official.
Officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, however, said the need or otherwise for any revenue share mechanism between telcos and OTT companies is being deliberated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) as part of its consultation paper on regulatory mechanism for OTT communication services. After the regulator makes its recommendations, the government will take a call, they said.
“We don’t know what the final conclusion would be, but net neutrality is paramount, and it should be ensured,” another official said. As per the licence agreements, a licensee providing internet access service shall not engage in any discriminatory treatment of content, including based on the sender or receiver, the protocols being used or the user equipment. The licensee is also prohibited from entering into any arrangement, agreement or contract, by whatever name called, with any person, natural or legal, that has the effect of discriminatory treatment of content.
While telcos are allowed reasonable traffic management practices (TMPs), there is no clear definition on the subject yet. The Trai in September 2020 gave its recommendations on TMPs wherein the regulator suggested formatir reholder body (MSB) to ensure telcos comply with net neutrality rules.
According to the regulator’s recommendations, telcos would be required to inform DoT as well the MSB about the TMPs adopted by them to manage their networks and only after the approval, the TMPs can be deployed on the network. To ensure that net neutrality rules are complied with, the telcos need to submit a detailed technical description of TMPs and how it will impact different services of users.
The recommendations are under examination by the telecom department. The government also undertakes annual technical audits of internet service providers which includes technical information about the network, upstream and downstream bandwidth and tariff plans.
