Spectrum, the Root Cause

OTT players freely riding TSP network is, a misnomer. TSPs are fully compensated by end- user consumers for access to the broader Internet, says IAMAI

The highly mismanaged spectrum licensing in India has been a key concern for industry stakeholders and telecom service providers (TSPs) also often complain that as they have purchased spectrum by forking out a lot of monies, allowing OTT players to freely ride their networks is not justified.

Even the point mentioned in the consultation papers of TRAI under ‘Challenges posed by OTT service’, states that “The contention of the TSPs is that they have invested in building the infrastructure (capital costs) and incurred other costs associated with operation of the network (cost of spectrum, License Fee,

TSPs should not charge Internet application and content providers in order to reach end-users and imposing additional charges on Internet services will hamper innovation and consumer choice.

Spectrum Usage Charge etc.) and the OTT players are freely riding on their networks.”

But according to IAMAI, this is a misnomer as TSPs are already fully compensated by end- user consumers for access to the broader Internet.

TSPs should not charge Internet application and content providers in order to reach end-users and imposing additional charges on Internet services will hamper innovation and consumer choice.

IAMAI says that if TSPs are allowed to charge more for apps based communications, they would soon have, for example, increased pricing for ecommerce or social media, which would set in a new trend,