The advent of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) was not met with great excitement from the industry as a whole. In fact, the completion of the first computer-based call occurred decades before we saw the technology arrive en masse. It’s not an uncommon occurrence in telecommunications, yet the delay between discovery and innovation can sometimes leave too many opportunities on the table. Fortunately for business VoIP providers, that time has passed.
Still, the focus on innovation and development for the improved operation of all communications is good for the industry. When growth occurs, however, the pains are often very real and garner much attention. The latest to feel the effects of VoIP growth is India and now the country’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is considering the implications of net neutrality. The DoT formed a panel in January 2015 to determine whether service providers have to treat all traffic equally.
As the battle continues to wage between telecom users and operators – affecting business VoIP providers in the process – the panel has released its findings in a report to the public. At present, Over-the-top (OTT) services, such as Viber, WhatsApp and others are not required to abide by government licensing guidelines. As such, they also don’t have to share revenue, abide by national security conditions or anti-spam regulations. The panel would like to change this reality, bringing OTT services under a licensing regime.
The panel doesn’t want to interfere with messaging services, but does want to regulate VoIP calls, especially domestic VoIP calls. In relation to net neutrality, the panel fails to effectively address this issue, although accommodations could be made through a license agreement between telecom providers and the government. The question now is whether the panel’s findings are in the best interest of consumers, the government or business VoIP providers.
According to a recent BBC report, the panel’s findings are riddled with challenges, especially the idea that VoIP services should be regulated. There are a number of terms that have yet to be defined and a number of distinctions are not effectively explained, leaving too much open for interpretation. In fact, interpreting the report has been one of the primary challenges among those held accountable to its findings and could upset the market in interesting ways.
The reality is that the demand for VoIP and the call for net neutrality are pushing the limits on investigations into what’s fair for all concerned. For most, however, the question is really whether or not the final results are truly fair, or instead serve the best interest of those who stand to gain the most.