ABTO wants new Internet telephony licences for ISPs

Neeraja Kumar in New Delhi

The private basic telecom service operators (BSOs) want the right to offer Internet telephony without taking any separate licence.
However, they want that Internet service providers (ISPs) should not be allowed to provide Internet telephony without taking an additional licence.

In its response to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) consultation paper on Internet telephony, the Association of Basic Telecom Operators (ABTO) has said that the terms and conditions of introducing this service should ensure that the private BSOs have a level playing field.

According to the ABTO submission, Internet telephony service provider (ITSPs) should pay entry fee and license fee, besides meeting the prescribed quality of service standards and also have roll out obligations.

Basic operators also want that Trai should implement cost-based tariffs for both rental and call charges, before the introduction of Internet telephony. ABTO fears that Internet telephony will hamper the growth of basic telecom infrastructure in the country, as it will not make business sense for companies to invest huge amounts in infrastructure as calls will become cheaper.

ABTO feels that the present licensing regime should not be permitted to provide Internet Telephony as this will “amount to serious anomaly in the licensing terms and conditions of other service providers.” In case ISPs are permitted to provide voice telephony, they should have the same licensing conditions, licensing fee regime and obligations as that of basic service operators, the submission added.

ABTO has suggested that the new licensees should be mandated to use access network of basic service operators on commercial terms. Further, Internet telephony service providers should be mandated to install a minimum amount of infrastructure as a part of their obligation.

Meanwhile, the choice as to whether the carriers use a managed voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) network or public Internet, should be left open to the service provider, according to ABTO.