DoT says no to net telephony, allows alternative

The Department of Telecom (DoT) on Monday refused to allow full-fledged Internet telephony services in India but gave alternative option to Indian subscribers to select any long distance call operators of their own choice to avail STD or ISD facility at cheaper rates, irrespective of their service provider.

At present, only restricted Internet telephony service is available in India for international calls from computer to computer, computer to fixed line or mobile, and vice-versa. Unrestricted net telephony will no doubt benefit the consumers by making STD calls as cheap as 10 paise per minute.

If this technology were approved, the tariff on long distance calls would have reduced by up to 50 % in both international and national long distance calls. The government has now referred it back to the Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI).

As per the new direction, mobile users have the freedom to choose their own mobile operator for calling long distance national and international calls through ‘calling cards’ of their own choice from any preferred long distance call operator.

For the calling card players who hold the long distance license can now sell their cards directly to the users. In India, there are many domestic as well as foreign long distance calling card license holders like RailTel, PowerGrid, Tulip IT services (all Indians), and British Telecom, AT&T, Verizon, France Telecom and Cable & Wireless (all foreign players).

The subscriber will have to punch a 16-digit code embossed on the calling card on his/her mobile or fixed line phone which will connect it to the long distance network.

For example, an Airtel mobile user can opt AT&T calling card option for calling USA, as its tariff for USA call is cheaper than any other existing operator while user can also preferred Vodafone, Reliance, idea, Tata, Railtel, Verizon and many more operators without any interruption of Bharti network.

Once the new service is implemented, the long distance call may fall sharply with the increasing competition due to rising number of players.

Earlier last year, TRAI advocated in favour of full-fledged Internet telephony service viewing cheapest local, STD and ISD calls. DoT had assured to consider it and asked to submit a comprehensive study on security related issues from telecom regulator.

However, the existing telecom operators are in oppose of extending internet telephony as the entry of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) would challenge the profit of telecom firm in domestic market. Moreover, they had also asked the DoT to enforce the ISPs to deposit a license fee equivalent to the existing telecom operators.