Voip in india

After much speculation and delay, India has finally taken the decision to allow Internet telephony services to be established, with the high-profile Minister for Communications, IT and Parliamentary Affairs, Pramod Mahajan, dropping the news in a speech on 18 October. "My aim is to provide cheaper and technologically advanced services to our customers", Mahajan said.

Brave words from the minister. Even braver, he set a date -- April 2002. But his announcement really meant that the matter has been referred to the Telecommunication Authority of India (TRAI) for further study.

The regulator has already started the consultation process, after which recommendations on terms and condition for the service will be posted, and then ultimately a decision may be made.

Meanwhile, the industry has adopted its usual positions. Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), who have put up tough resistance over the last two years, are still skeptical.

"There are still some issues that need to be ironed out before the decision is eventually implemented," confides a senior official of the department. He notes that an internal departmental committee has strongly recommended that the ISPs should not be allowed to provide VoIP services.

So far the resistance has been successful in delaying the introduction of IP telephony on the familiar grounds of lost government revenue.

Initial resistance

Yet, now they have little choice and have conditionally agreed to permit Only the license holders of basic, national long distance (NLD) and international long distance (NLD) service providers into the fray.

While no one has been taken by surprise over this move, Amitabh Singhal, general secretary of Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) says the responses mirror the experience the world over: after initial resistance, the state monopolies have adopted this route of telephony along with other service provider.

"Yes, in the beginning, the revenues of these monopolies may be affected, but over a period of time they have been the gainers," he said, noting the passage of VoIP in China and elsewhere. "And as far as not allowing the ISPs in this segment is concerned, it is a decision that TRAI will have to take," he adds.

According to analysts, VoIP will flourish where artificially high tariff structures exist and also where bandwidth is scarce. This is where the providers like Reliance, Tata. Hughes and Bharti come in. However, when contacted by Telecom Asia, neither BSN L, Bharti, Reliance, nor Hughes had any concrete plans to enter the market. Ali said they were still trying to understand the business, given that the rules have not yet been drawn up.

But why is it that this technology is still being resisted? To a large extent it is because enormous investments have gone into putting up the PSTN network over the last several decades. Moreover the insignificant level of PC penetration in the country does not make it a priority area.

On international experience, IP telephony in India can be a vehicle for enhancing teledensity as well as generate additional revenues to all players. What's more, new carriers as well as new deployments of traditional carriers like BSNL can actually keep their costs low and improve their bottom line as well.

Meanwhile, it is up to TRAI.