Services like Whatsapp, Google Meet not your remit: IT to DoT

“In May, the DoT had formed a second draft of the Bill and when it came for consultation in the inter-ministerial group, MeitY made it clear that the DoT can only regulate the carriage layer, that is telephony, wireless communications, and private sector licences, etc.,” the official said, requesting anonymity since the discussions are private.

Last September, in the first draft of the Bill, the DoT had proposed regulating communication services including voice, video, and data offered by platforms such as Whatsapp as telecom services, requiring them to obtain a licence from the government just like other telecom operators.

WhatsApp and other similar services were mentioned as telecom services under the first version of the draft, addressing a long-standing demand by telecom operators which have on several occasions called for a level playing field. At present, while telecom companies need a licence to offer services, OTT platforms do not.

MeitY believes that under the Allocation of Business Rules, internet-based communication services are not part of DoT’s jurisdiction. In July this year, almost three years after it first recommended against creating a specific regulatory framework for such platforms, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) commenced fresh consultations on how OTT services can be regulated.

After public comments, the DoT is learnt to have whittled down the definition of telecom services as transmission, emission or reception of messages in formats such as texts, images, videos, and data streams in its May draft. The concept of licensing was also done away with, with a new provision of “authorisation” being introduced in its place.

However, MeitY believed that even this definition was wide enough to include services like WhatsApp, which forced it to voice its objections.

“The IT Ministry believes that the DoT can look at the performance of telecom networks, trusted networks, lawful interception etc. but to include OTT communication services under its ambit is going beyond the remit,” the official quoted above said. “And how many internet-based communication services are they going to regulate? Virtually all online platforms have a communication feature,” the official said.

Queries sent to the Ministry of Communications remained unanswered until publication.

A section within the IT Ministry also believes that if the DoT is given charge of OTT communication platforms and their authorisation, it is also possible that they could require them to share revenue with telecom operators.

“There is a fear that if the DoT asks OTT communication services to pay telecom companies for their network usage, which is something the latter have been very vocal about, it could in essence violate the principles of net neutrality,” the IT Ministry official said.

Network neutrality was among the first progressive mandates in the digital space that India adopted after it thwarted zero rating plans including Airtel Zero and Facebook’s Free Basics in 2016. The net neutrality rules means that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) cannot discriminate against Internet content and services by blocking, throttling or granting them higher speed access.