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Let’s Talk Commitment

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VoicenData Bureau
New Update

Last

week I met a person at a seminar on metropolitan area networks.

The discussion moved from networking equipment to IP telephony.

The gentleman pointed out that despite ban, IP telephony was

being practiced in India and he had himself made a few calls to

get a feel of it. He furiously pointed to the dangers that lay

ahead if it was not allowed and encouraged in India.

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What was surprising was

that the gentleman was a very senior DoT official. But his was

certainly not an isolated case. Many Government officials

believe that the ban on IP telephony is self-destructive and

cannot be implemented.

Such instances leave you

wondering. Is that the kind of faith the Government has in its

own policies? What commitment levels are we witnessing within

the policy makers? Clearly, though the ban might remain, it’ll

not be seriously implemented. And like many other laws, this one

will also become a tool for creating problems for users. There

have already been some reports where telephone department

officials have been harassing small Internet outfits.

Communications, which is

not regulated by geographical boundaries and time, is the need

of the hour. Many Indian business houses and entrepreneurs want

to exploit this opportunity. IP telephony offers just that, and

at a fraction of the cost. This ban will deny the cost benefit

to Indians. Public telephone companies in countries like the US,

Finland and Germany are already offering this.

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A huge opportunity will be

lost if we refuse to take notice of this. There might be those

large corporate houses, which might stop making STD/ISD calls

and use IP telephony over their private networks. By allowing

it, we might have many Indian companies offering these services,

earn revenues, and create jobs.

The ban might keep VSNL’s

register ringing in the short run. But, as a law it is bound to

end up as joke with very serious negative ramifications for the

entire Information Technology industry. In the long run this

will not prove beneficial. It might force entrepreneurs and

innovators to even break the law. We already have some small

operators in India offering IP telephony products and services

openly on the Internet.

One gentleman that I spoke to refused to

even accept that there was a ban on it. So much so for the

industry’s perception! One wonders that if the industry is not

serious, and if the government is not convinced, why have the

ban in the first place! Or are we again talking of banning

smoking in public places?

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