I&B Ministry Responsible For Regulating OTT Platforms, Clarifies Jyotiraditya Scindia

With excellent news for the nation's major telecom companies, Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia informed that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) is responsible for regulating over-the-top (OTT) platforms.

The minister's remarks coincide with telecom companies pressuring over-the-top (OTT) companies to split infrastructure expenses.

However, the OTT players claim that this kind of action would hinder innovation.

It should be mentioned that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is also investigating telecom providers' requests to pressure OTT to split infrastructure costs.

In an interview with ANI, Scindia said, "...that is something that, to be very candid, comes under the domain of the Ministry of I&B. Having said that, I have six advisory groups that I have set up and this concept has come up as an issue that they would like to discuss from the point of view of the TSPs (telecom service providers)."

Critics point out the possible breach of net neutrality principles, while TSPs contend that cost-sharing might finance much-needed improvements in their network growth, according to the ANI report. All internet traffic must be treated equally under net neutrality, which forbids content providers from paying TSPs. Critics contend that implementing such fees might give network operators the power to give preference to particular platforms, so compromising the democratic nature of the Internet.

Because they depend on telecom infrastructure, carriers have been pleading with the minister to include OTT communication companies like Google, WhatsApp, and Telegram within the Telecom Act.

Reliance Jio Chairman Akash Ambani and his MD Pankaj Pawar, Bharti Enterprises VC Rajan Mittal, and Vodafone Idea MD Akshaya Moondra, among others, met with the Minister in September to talk about "ease of doing business."

OTTs are already subject to the Information Technology Act 2000, according to groups like the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the Broadband India Forum (BIF), and the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM). Ashwini Vaishnaw, the telecom minister at the time, made it clear last year that OTT apps are subject to the IT Act rather than the Telecom Act.