The Hindu Business Line : DoT moves to bring Net telephony under scrutiny

Cross talk
Global Net telephony services not licensed in India
Indian ISPs say foreign players do not adhere to Indian security monitoring norms
Service providers hold private key restricting access
Indian ISPs seek level playing field

Thomas K. Thomas

New Delhi, Oct. 13 In a bid to address security concerns that could arise as a result of telephony services provided by global Internet-based companies such as Skype and Yahoo, the Department of Telecom has asked Indian Internet service providers for details of the encryption keys used by such operators. The encryption keys will enable DoT to monitor the communication taking place through the Net telephony service providers.

The move comes after the Internet Service Providers Association of India had pointed out that the services offered by the Net telephony companies posed a security threat to the country. ISPAI had said that as these service providers were not licensed by Indian authorities they did not adhere to the security monitoring norms prescribed by national security agencies.

In a recent note to ISPAI, DoT has asked it to provide the keys with which security agencies can verify these claims. However, ISPAI has informed DoT that the keys are kept securely by the global Net telephony service providers and it would be difficult to obtain them unless the companies themselves gave them.

All Internet-based companies encrypt their network to make data transmission secure. They also have a private key to protect the encryption, to prevent any undesired person or agency from accessing their network.

Tax liability?

Multinational Net telephony operators have been under the Indian Government’s scanner for some time.

The tax authorities are also examining whether these companies are required to pay service tax in India.

The Directorate-General of Central Excise Intelligence has asked local Internet service providers to provide details including address, revenues, and the bulk users of all such Net telephony service providers in the country.

On the other hand, Net telephony service providers have maintained that they were not liable to pay any charges to Indian authorities as they were operating from other countries by paying taxes as per local laws.

According to Mr Amitabh Singhal, founder member of ISPAI, “It will not be possible to stop or ban the services being offered by these global operators. However, the Indian Government can work out a solution by permitting local ISPs to also offer unlimited Net telephony, which will make the playing field level. At present licensed ISPs who want to offer Internet telephony services are not allowed to connect to domestic fixed line or mobile subscribers. So why would a Skype or a Google take an Indian licence, which restricts the scope of service, when they can freely offer the service without getting locally registered.”

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DoT moves to bring Net telephony under scrutiny