Telecom companies seek level playing field; threaten to hike data tariff by six times
Demanding ‘same service, same rules', telecom operators said that they have to pay the government a number of fees and taxes, which is creating arbitrage opportunity for OTT players who are offering voice services
New Delhi: After being at the receiving end on the debate on net neutrality, CEOs of top telecom operators on Friday demanded that they should be given level playing filed against over-the-top (OTT) players offering voice services such as Skype and WhatsApp.Demanding ‘same service, same rules’, telecom operators said that they have to pay the government a number of fees and taxes, which is creating arbitrage opportunity for OTT players who are offering voice services.”
The telecom operators said the absence of level playing field will either jeopardise future investment of Rs 5 lakh crore in the next five years in the sector or operators will have to hike data tariff to keep themselves viable.“In the US, they offer data plans; they bundle in voice. They do voice free whether you do a voice call or VOIP call, it really doesn’t matter. But the rates of data start $30 per GB. Rates in India are 25 paise per MB, which is less than $3.5 per GB,” COAI vice-chairman and Bharti Airtel India managing director Gopal Vittal said during a press meet which was attended by the CEOs of Vodafone, Idea and Videocon.
“If same service, same rules are not applied, the only way the telecom industry could be viable is that data rates could be six times where they are today. After that, you can do what you want,” he warned.However, he said that if data rates were hiked by six times, then a lot of people in India will never be able to access the Internet.“We believe the same service, and specifically communication services, voice services must be subjected to same rules. As an industry, we are subject to host set of rules and we want level playing field. We support net neutrality, we also want net equality,” said Mr Vittal.
Idea Cellular MD Himanshu Kapania claimed that there is no linkage between zero rated plans and net neutrality and both are allowed in many countries. However, he said that zero rated should be looked only as one of the plans and “don’t take it to the level that it will dramatic change the world.” “We as an industry want an open debate whether zero plans should be allowed or not,” said Vodafone India CEO Sunil Sood.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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