Tech Giants Fight Indian Telcos' Bid To Regulate Internet Services, Pay For Network Usage

Global technology giants are pushing back against attempts by India's telecom networks to bring internet services under stricter regulation, rejecting arguments that such measures are necessary to create a "level playing field" and address national security concerns. From a report: The Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), a powerful industry body that represents Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix and Spotify, has forcefully argued against inclusion of the so-called over-the-top (OTT) services in the proposed regulatory framework for telecom operators. In a submission to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the AIC said there are fundamental differences in technology, operations and functionality between OTT services and traditional telecom operations.

[...] This resistance comes in response to a coordinated push by India's top telecom operators -- Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea -- to bring OTT services under a new authorization framework. Jio, India's largest telecom operator with more than 475 million subscribers, along with other telco operators have recommended that OTT providers contribute to network development costs based on their traffic consumption, turnover and user base.

Makes zero sense

[CEC-P]

So you want money because it's expensive to carry internet traffic to the customers? You know all that money the customer pays you per month? What the hell is that going towards then? What are they buying? What are they paying for, your marketing and legal team? I'm pretty sure they're paying you to deliver internet traffic to their residence.

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[nightflameauto]

(Telco to Indian Government): "We want to do this our way to maximize our profits. If you insist we do it your way, we're going to make sure you feel the pain of it until you realize the error of your ways."

Being India (and not the United States), Indian Telcos ought to be aware of their government's ability to swat them like flies if they become too troublesome to the task of governance in India. They're not Soviet-style dictators, but neither are they a bunch of free-enterprise hippies. Business entities in India aren't quite as sacred as cash cows here in the US are.

My inner word nerd wants to applaud you for calling the US entities sacred cash cows in a discussion about India. You may not have made my day, but you certainly gave me a chuckle. Intentional or not.

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[itsme1234]

You know all that money the customer pays you per month?

All that ~$2 per month! From TFA:

The telcosâ(TM) push comes as they grapple with low average revenue per user â" of approximately $2 per month.

Keep in mind these are extremely generous plans compared with "western" standards, and normally heavily used. And they don't have like a bunch of SIMs for IoT, starting with the Tesla or dog's tracker or wash machine or who knows what needs its own SIM nowadays, just the opposite, the residential Inter

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[taustin]

And when someone complains about the use of the word literally when it was, literally, used correctly.

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[taustin]

Truth hurts, eh? Next time, try some lube.

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[taustin]

I know you are, but what am I?

And you will now reply, again.