The Hindu Business Line : TRAI move to open up internet telephony within India

New Delhi, May 12 Making cheaper calls from a PC to a phone in India could soon become a reality, with telecom regulator TRAI on Monday seeking views from the industry and experts on the issue of allowing ISPs to provide internet telephony to call landline or mobile subscribers, within the country.

The move is expected to boost competition in the national long distance segment and trigger further drop in STD tariffs.

The regulator kicked-off the process by releasing a consultation paper on relaxing restrictive provisions of internet telephony. “The fruits of technological advancements must reach common masses and to that extent regulations must be flexible. If Internet telephony within the country to PSTN/PLMN (landline/mobile) is permitted to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Indian subscribers may gain from technological advancement, fuelling competition in the telecom sector, resulting in services at affordable price and with better quality,” TRAI said.

As per the current licence conditions, a subscriber is allowed to use the PC to dial a phone abroad. However, ISPs are not permitted to have interconnection with fixed line or mobile exchanges to provide internet telephony within the country. “There is a demand from ISPs for opening of Internet telephony in the national long distance sector as well,” TRAI noted.

‘Customer friendly’

Terming it as a “customer-friendly measure that would spark-off 50 per cent reduction in the current tariffs,” Mr Rajesh Chharia, President of the ISP Association of India, said, “For instance, we can offer STD at 50 paise/minute while local calls can be as low as 15/20 paise per minute. This could bring about a new type of service — phone to phone calls based on IP platform.”

However, a lot would depend on the terms and conditions stipulated by TRAI. “TRAI should not impose any additional licence or entry fee or the benefits of the entire exercise will be lost,” Mr Chharia said. Other issues to be deliberated by the regulator include numbering, emergency number dialling, effective monitoring and lawful interception; interoperability, standardisation and quality of service; and interconnection with PSTN/PLMN including the applicability of the current IUC regime.