Dominant OTT players paying fair rates won't breach net neutrality: Telcos

"Contrary to the misguided opinions being floated in various fora, a fair-share contribution from OTTs will not violate Net Neutrality. In fact, all of the concerns being raised – such as favouring one website/application/service, pricing differentiation, decision on charging fair share on a case-to-case basis, etc. – are imagined and speculative scenarios."

Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, the dominant telecom operators, have all come out forcefully in support of the idea that a fair-share payment from over-the-top (OTT) players would not violate the Net Neutrality principles.

Telecom service providers and OTT players are at odds with one another, with the telcos attempting to regulate communication OTT platforms or mobile apps that ride on mobile networks for free while the latter has argued for a revenue-sharing model or financial support for the construction of mobile networks.

Lt. Gen. Dr. S.P. Kochhar, Director General, COAI on behalf of COAI stated, “COAI would like to state that it is concerning to see such misleading and speculative views being promoted by certain quarters, with an intention to misguide and confuse the people regarding the idea of the proposed ‘Fair-Share’ charge to be paid by Large Traffic Generating (LTG) OTT players to the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for the development, upkeep and sustenance of robust and quality telecom networks across the country, for catering to the colossal traffic being loaded on the networks and the steadily growing data demands.

Contrary to the misguided opinions being floated in various fora, a fair-share contribution from OTTs will not violate Net Neutrality. In fact, all of the concerns being raised – such as favouring one website/application/service, pricing differentiation, decision on charging fair share on a case-to-case basis, etc. – are imagined and speculative scenarios. Evidently, people are being misguided by propagating such unfounded fears and supposed scenarios by certain entities with vested interests."

The telco group made it clear that regardless of the fair share payment paid, there will be no throttling, blocking, or paid prioritizing for any service or application.

Lt. Gen. Dr. S.P. Kochhar added, "The Indian telcos are bound by their license conditions to ensure Net Neutrality, and will continue to do so. COAI affirms that the proposed fair share charge does not affect access to an open and free Internet. The content and services for consumers would remain fully accessible with no traffic management/differentiation. Further, there will be no throttling, no blocking and no paid prioritization for any service/application irrespective of the fair share charge paid. The price for the traffic paid by end users will not change depending on whether the traffic generator is subject to fair share payments or not."

Following closely on the Broadband India Forum (BIF), the telco group claimed that the government's intention to impose a licencing framework and the telcos' demand that OTT players pay network usage fees would result in a violation of the 2016 Net Neutrality principles and guidelines.

"It is also argued that OTTs do not generate traffic, but it is rather the end users whose demand leads to traffic. This is a flawed argument since the OTTs decide, without user control and knowledge, the traffic volumes delivered as well as on compression techniques, i.e., transmitting in standard definition, high definition or ultra-high definition and how to proceed in case of network congestion by reducing the quality of the streaming. Features such as auto-play, continuous-play or advertising are also not requested by end users but automatically provisioned in these services, which result in significant traffic volumes." Kocchar argued.

After the telecom firms suggested that the OTT or mobile app companies pay a fair network usage price, the argument between the two opposing factions became more heated. In its statement to the industry regulator, the telco group did, however, suggest exempting startups, micro, small, and medium-sized (MSME), and tiny businesses from paying the fair share tax.

The largest traffic generators (LTGs) are supposed to pay the fair share charge to service providers as a kind of compensation in order to maintain the viability of telecom networks.

Lt. Gen. Dr. S.P. Kochhar further added, "The fair share charge represents a just compensation mechanism intended to be paid by the largest traffic generators (LTGs) to TSPs, driven by the goal of ensuring the sustainability of telecom networks and create a harmonious and just framework that secures the industry's well-being over the long term. By equitably distributing resources among the stakeholders, it seeks to catalyze infrastructure growth, spur innovation and ensure universal access to high-quality telecom services. A fairer allocation of network costs can relieve the pressure on consumer prices for communication services as the only way to meet the enormous investment needs of the sector. This approach would benefit both the industry and consumers, while propelling economic and technological advancement.

Our proposal for providing exemptions to startups, MSMEs and small enterprises within the OTT ecosystem from payment of fair share charge, as clearly mentioned in our submission to TRAI, not only establishes a supportive framework for nurturing startups, but also ensures that smaller players enjoy the advantages of improved network quality. By defining a threshold to be subject to the obligation; only largest traffic originators will have to pay for the service of delivering their traffic to end users.

Payment of fair share fee by LTGs to TSPs will eventually enhance customer satisfaction, as end-users will benefit via enjoy better network quality and improved services. Customer satisfaction being paramount for both OTT providers and TSPs, the fair share charge will help enhance customer experience by fostering a healthy digital ecosystem. Promoting the sustainability of networks will expedite the attainment of our nation’s connectivity goals, which will not only serve the broader societal interest, but will also enable OTT players to offer innovative services to a more expansive market.”