Cisco's Webex India granted right to provide telecom connectivity

For both domestic and international long distance services, Webex has the Unified Licence. According to a corporate representative, the license will allow the company to independently and securely link with national and international data centres.

The government has granted Webex India, a subsidiary of US telecom equipment manufacturer Cisco, a telecom license, allowing it to offer enterprise-grade domestic and international telecom connectivity. Webex is now the first Over-The-Top (OTT) provider to receive a telecom license.

Currently, the business offers web conferencing for businesses. A virtual network operator licence was already obtained by it in July.

"We can vouch for Cisco's receipt of a telecom licence. With the helpof this license, we will be able to provide our partners and customers in India with improved Webex collaboration capabilities, a Cisco official told PTI on Tuesday.

For both domestic and international long distance services, Webex has the Unified Licence. According to a corporate representative, the license will allow the company to independently and securely link with national and international data centres.

As per the official, "the licence will be utilised to improve the Webex platform rather than to compete with current users, particularly telecom companies."

In order to create a framework for regulating internet calling and messaging apps like Whatsapp, Signal and Google Meet, the department of Telecom has already requested input from the industry regulator TRAI.

The Department of Telecom(DoT) has returned for consideration the internet telephony suggestions made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in 2008. Due to the alteration in the technical environment bought on by the advent of new technologies, it has asked the regulator to develop an exhaustive reference.

Telecom companies brought up the subject of ISPs offering internet telephony services in 2016-17 during the net neutrality debates. However, at that time, there were no restrictions placed by the government on the call and messaging services offered by OTT platforms. (With Inputs from PTI)