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News >> Technology >>
TRAI move to open up Internet telephony within India
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 15 May 2008, 02:04 IST
New Delhi: Telecom regulator TRAI on Monday has sought the industry experts' views on the issue of allowing ISPs to provide Internet telephony to call landline or mobile subscribers within the country. The move is expected to boost competition in the national long distance segment and trigger further drops in STD tariffs.
The regulator has released a consultation paper on relaxing restrictive provisions of Internet telephony. "The fruits of technological advancements must reach common masses and to that extent regulations must be flexible. If Internet telephony within the country to PSTN/PLMN (landline/mobile) is permitted to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Indian subscribers may gain from technological advancement, fuelling competition in the telecom sector, resulting in services at affordable price and with better quality," TRAI said.
As per the current license conditions, a subscriber is allowed to use the PC to dial a phone abroad. However, ISPs are not permitted to have interconnection with fixed line or mobile exchanges to provide internet telephony within the country. "There is a demand from ISPs for opening of Internet telephony in the national long distance sector as well," TRAI noted.
Terming it as a "customer-friendly measure that would spark-off 50 percent reduction in the current tariffs," Rajesh Chharia, President of the ISP Association of India, said, "For instance, we can offer STD at 50 paise / minute while local calls can be as low as 15/20 paise per minute. This could bring about a new type of service ? phone to phone calls based on IP platform."