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The focus of the article is to
examine the impact of the proposed Communications Convergence Bill on
e-commerce. The ambit of the paper is restricted to internet telephony
as the novel and cheap method of communication and of conducting
business over the net. Internet telephony is of particular interest to
organizations engaged in business process outsourcing as it
significantly cuts the costs of communication. In the course of this
paper the author would also analyse the guidelines and license issued by
the DoT for providing Internet telephony services and discusses some of
the emerging legal issues that
are spawned by this liberalisation.
INTRODUCTION
After several months of debate, on April 1, 2002, the Government of
India finally permitted Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to offer
Internet telephony services. Earlier, the legal and regulatory framework
in India did not permit ISPs to offer Internet telephony. Under terms of
the ISP licence, telephony on the Internet was banned and if any ISP
offered these services, the ISP licence could have been terminated.
After the opening up of this sector, the Department of
Telecommunications (DoT) has granted approvals and licences to several
telecommunication companies to commence these services. Though the
quality of Internet telephony services may not be as high as the normal
international long distance services, their low cost will definitely
attract more consumers. Further, with the rapid advancement in
technology, it is only a matter of time that the gap between the two
forms of voice communication is bridged.
WHAT IS INTERNET TELEPHONY?
INTERNET TELEPHONY : THE CONCEPT
(a) Meaning
Internet Telephony is a form of Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony. IP
Telephony is used as a generic term for the many different ways of
transmitting voice, fax and related services over packet-switched
IP-based networks. The basic steps involved in originating an Internet
telephone call are conversion of the analog voice signal to digital
format (binary data) and compression/translation of the data into IP
packets for transmission over the Internet; the process is reversed at
the receiving end. This process is called modulation-demodulation,
giving the term modem. The communication usually takes place real
time.Thus, the main difference between Internet Telephony and normal
telephony is that whereas in normal telephony, circuit switching
technology is used, Internet Telephony is based on packet switching
technology.
(b) Difference between Internet
Telephony and Voice-over-IP
IP Telephony can be subdivided into two major groups: Internet Telephony
and Voice-over-IP (VoIP), the difference being the type of the
underlying IP network i.e. the medium of transmission. Internet
telephony primarily involves the usage of the Internet rather than the
Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to transmit 'real-time' audio
from one personal computer (PC) to another (or in some instances to
another telephone itself). However, in the case of VoIP, it is generally
an IP technology suite (i. e. a private network) that is used rather
than the public Internet.
Another important distinction
between Internet Telephony and VoIP is the quality of the transmission.
Since VoIP is usually a closed / private network, the technical hurdles
are less daunting, which results in greater reliability in the
transmission of voice packets than in Internet Telephony where the voice
packets are transmitted on the Internet. Therefore, the chances of
having a live or real-time conversation are better in VoIP than in
Internet Telephony.
(c) Methods of Internet Telephony
Following are the popular methods of Internet Telephony as recognised by
the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
(i) PC to PC
Under this method, calls are transferred from one PC to another PC. No
gateway with a PSTN is required, because calls are not switched by a
PSTN. Rather, the principal medium of transmission is always the
Internet.
(ii) PC to Phone / Fax
Under the PC to Phone / Fax method, the conversion of speech into
packets takes place on the originating users PC. The process is reversed
at an Internet Telephone Service Providers (ITSP) gateway server, which
then dials the called partys telephone number and, when a connection is
made, starts sending the callers speech and transmitting the called
partys speech in the other direction. The PC to Phone / Fax category
includes PC to PhoneVoice and PC to Call Centre services.
(iii) Phone to Phone
Phone to Phone method of Internet Telephony is closely associated with
the traditional telephone experience. ITSPs are required to install
their own gateways and enter into termination agreements all over the
world, both with independent ISPs as well as established PTOs. In Phone
to Phone Internet Telephony, the customer, using an ordinary telephone,
dials an access code and then the telephone number; the access code then
routes the call to a special computer gateway (the IP network). Local
computer gateways for companies offering this type of service must be
optimally placed in strategic geographic areas. For instance, if a
customer using phone-to-phone Internet Telephony plans to call London
(England) from Mumbai (India), then local gateways must be located in
both London and Mumbai. The gateways convert audio into data for
transmission across the IP network and then convert incoming data back
into analog signals.
3. LICENCING INTERNET TELEPHONY
SERVICES IN INDIA
Pursuant to the New Telecom Policy, 1999, the DoT has announced
guidelines permitting ISPs to process and carry voice signals
(Guidelines). ISPs can only offer these services within the service
areas for which they have a licence. Pursuant to the
Guidelines, the DoT has revised the Licence Agreement for ISPs to
include the provision of Internet telephony services (Revised Licence).
The Revised Licence has been issued under the authority granted to the
DoT under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1855, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy
Act, 1933 and the TRAI Act, 1997.
All ISPs desirous of providing Internet telephony services also have to
make an application to the DoT for signing an Amendment to their
existing ISP licence. The old ISP licence agreement, which banned
Internet telephony services read as follows:
1.12.3 Telephony on the Internet: Telephony on the Internet is not
permitted. The licence will be liable for termination for any violation
of this clause of the Licence Agreement. The licensee shall also take
measures on his own and as and when directed by the Government at his
own cost to bar carriage of Telephone traffic over Internet.
However, the Revised Licence does
not contain the above clause, and allows ISPs to provide Internet access
/ content services including, Internet telephony services.
(a) Provision of Internet Telephony
Services
As per the Revised Licence, Internet Telephony is an application
service, which customersof ISPs can avail of from their PCs or other IP
based Customer Premises Equipment (CPE).The Revised Licence restricts
the manner in which ISPs can provide Internet Telephony services to
onlythree types:
(i) From a PC in India to a PC inside and outside India
(ii) From a PC in India to a telephone outside India
(iii) From an IP-based H.323/SIP Terminal in India to similar terminals
in India and abroad provided they employ the IP addressing scheme of the
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority ISPs are not allowed to provide any
Internet telephony services which fall outside the purview of the above
three modes.
It can be seen that the scope of
Internet telephony in the second mode to only telephones outside India.
So if an Internet telephony service provider allows a PC user in India
to call a telephone in India, the same would violate the Revised Licence
and the ISP could be penalized for the same. It seems that the DoT has
stipulated this condition so that national long distance operators do
not lose out on their customer and revenue bases.
(b) Services that fall outside the
purview of Internet Telephony
The Revised Licence also states that ISPs are prohibited from offering
the following types of services as they fall outside the purview of
Internet telephony:
(i) Voice communication from anywhere to anywhere by means of dialing a
telephone number (PSTN/ISDN/PLMN) as defined in National Numbering Plan;
(ii) Originating the voice communication service from a telephone in
India;
(iii) Terminating the voice communication to telephone within India;
(iv) Establishing connection to any public switched network in India;
(v) Dial up lines with outward dialing facility from nodes; and
(vi) Interconnectivity between ISPs who are permitted to offer Internet
telephony services and the ISPs who are not permitted to offer Internet
telephony services.
(c) Quality of Service (QOS) Terms
The DoT has not provided any parameters for the QOS14 for Internet
telephony in the Revised Licence. The Guidelines and Revised Licence
state that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) shall
prescribe the QOS from time to time.
The role of the TRAI is to create an
environment conducive to the growth of telecom sector, and safeguard a
customer's interest and ensure that he gets the QoS that he has
contracted for. As regards QOS, the TRAI has the substantive role in
laying down standards, assessment of QOS, and action for improvements.
It has, therefore, the following main functions
to perform in this regard:
(i) Setting Quality of Service Standards
(ii) Monitoring
(iii) Enforcement
As of now, the TRAI has not framed
any QOS for Internet telephony. Once the TRAI imposes certain basic QOS
parameters, ISPs will be obligated to meet the minimum QOS criteria
while providing Internet telephony services to their customers.
In order that the customers can effectively utilize Internet telephony
services, the TRAI should formulate the QOS terms as soon as possible.
(d) Tariff / Fees
The Guidelines state that the TRAI has not levied any tariffs on ISPs
for the Internet
telephony services that will be provided over the public Internet.
However, there is a saving provision that states that the TRAI may levy
a tariff at any time and it shall be binding on the ISP to pay such
tariff. This provision has also been incorporated in the Revised
Licence. Moreover, the ISPs do not have to pay any licence fee and USO
levies for Internet telephony services. Nevertheless, the DoT reserves
the right to impose a licence fee on the ISP at any time during the
licence period.
Hitherto also, ISPs do not have to pay any licence fee for providing
Internet services. The DoT has continued to impose this licence fee-free
regime for ISPs in order to promote the proliferation of Internet usage
and now, Internet telephony services. However, since Internet telephony
services are in direct competition with basic telephony services, in
the event there is unfair competition, the DoT could impose a licence
fee to create a level-playing field.
(e) Security Monitoring
As per the Guidelines and Revised Licence, ISPs who provide Internet
telephony services through their own Internet gateways would have to
provide suitable monitoring facilities for the security agencies at
their own cost. The ISPs also have to provide periodic reports to the
DoT regarding the flow of Internet telephony traffic through its
network.
(f) Inter-connection
The Revised Licence permits only ISPs who have obtained the requisite
licence to offer
Internet telephony services. It prohibits any interconnection between an
ISP that is allowed to offer Internet telephony and an ISP that is not
allowed to offer Internet telephony.
4. EMERGING LEGAL ISSUES
(a) Ambiguity in Definition
While the Guidelines and Revised Licence discuss what services would
amount to Internet Telephony for the Indian context, they have failed to
define the term Internet telephony per se. The meaning given to the
Internet telephony is a restrictive in nature, as it states what
services would fall within and outside the purview of Internet telephony
for the Indian ISPs. In fact, many of the services, which are
prohibited under the Revised licence amount to Internet telephony in the
international context. For example, originating or terminating a voice
communication service from / to a telephone in India would amount to
Internet telephony in the international context, if the public Internet
is used as the medium of communication. The Guidelines and Licence do
not lay down any clear parameters that need to be satisfied by any
telecommunication service to be classified as Internet telephony. While
this problem exists world over, and even at the ITU level, this
ambiguity could lead to problems in the future when new forms of technology and modes of
communication emerge.
At the earliest, as TRAI has suggested, there is a need to distinguish
between Internet
Telephony and VOIP. The Governments of different countries need to come
together and resolve this issue at the earliest.
(b) Meaning of PC and Telephone
The Revised Licence states that PC to PC Internet telephony is permitted
in India. However, the Revised Licence does not clearly define a PC.
Under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (ITA), a computer is defined
as follows:
Computer means any electronic magnetic, optical or other high-speed
data processing device or system which performs logical, arithmetic or
memory functions by manipulations of electronic, magnetic or optical
impulses, and includes all input, output, processing, storage, computer
software, or communication facilities which are connected or related
to the computer in a computer system or computer network.
Thus the definition of a computer is extremely wide and is not merely
restricted to a normal computer, which is used at home or in offices.
Moreover, while the Revised Licence states that the telephone call
cannot be originated from or terminated on a telephone in India, it does
not define the word telephone. Even the telecommunications laws in
India have no clear definition of the term telephone.With the emergence of new technologies and products, the meaning of PC
and telephone
could be extended to also include personal digital assistants (PDA) (eg.palm pilots) and even mobile phones with computing power (like the
Nokia 9110). Moreover, there is also a convergence between PDAs and
telephones (like the TREO). If a call is made from such devices, it is
uncertain whether the same would be legally permissible.
Another emerging legal issue is concerning IP phones. There exists some
ambiguity as to
whether IP phones can be freely used to provide Internet telephony
services. While it is
technically possible to originate calls from IP-based networks, it is
uncommon to terminate calls from other networks onto an IP-based network
(except in the case of IP PABX system). Since a call from to a number
on the national numbering plan is prohibited, a call from an E.164
universal numbering plan may also not be allowed. However, the
International Telecommunications Union is studying an option of
assigning an E.164 numbering resource to an IP phone using the ENUM
protocol. The ENUM protocol converts the E.164 number to an IP address,
and a telephone user can call an IP phone by dialing the E.164 number.
The perturbing question is whether this would be allowed under Indian
laws as they stand right now.
Therefore, it would be necessary to determine and clarify the legitimacy
of the type of
instruments and the system being used while making an Internet telephone
call in order to
stay out of any legal problems.
(c) Quality of Services
One of the major difficulties in Internet telephony is in achieving a
similar standard of QOS for Internet telephony services as for normal
telephony services. The difficulty could arise due nature of the IP
network. The IP network uses packet mode of data transmission that can
degrade the quality of the voice communication as the packets could get
lost in transmission on the public Internet, there could be a delay in
transmission, there could be a variation in the packet arrival or there
could be an echo effect due to the delay between the transmission of a
signal and its receipt.
Therefore, while determining what amounts to real time in the context of
Internet telephony, it is necessary that the TRAI keeps in mind the
recommendations of the ITU on Real Time . The ITU in its recommendation
no. G.114 (2.96 revision) recommended certain limits for one-way
transmission time for conditions with echo adequately controlled .
According to Recommendation G.131 (Stability and Echo):
0 to 150 ms: Acceptable for most user applications .150 to 400 ms: Acceptable provided that Administrations are aware of
the transmission time impact on the transmission quality of user
applications .above 400 ms: Unacceptable for general network planning purposes;
however, it is recognized that in some exceptional cases this limit
will be exceeded.
Another practical difficulty that ISPs are facing is the lack of
adequate co-operation from basic telephone operators. Unless the basic
operators give better QOS in their agreements with ISPs, ISPs will not
be able to provide better QOS to their subscribers. While last year, the
TRAI released its recommendations for QOS for ISPs offering Internet
Services, ISPs are unable to meet these QOS terms because of the lack of
co-operation from basic operators. Therefore, the TRAI must keep in
mind the existing competition and economic scenario while framing QOS
for Internet telephony services.
(d) Liability of the ISP
The ITA contains provisions dealing with the liability of Network
Service Providers (NSPs). A NSP has been defined under the Act to mean
"an intermediary". An "intermediary", with respect to any particular
electronic message, means any person who on behalf of another person,
receives, stores or transmits that message or provides any service with
respect to that message. Thus an ISP would be an NSP as it receives,
stores or transmits electronic messages over the Internet on behalf of
its subscribers. The ITA stipulates that every NSP is given general
immunity as regards any offence under or contravention of the Act or the
provisions made thereunder, if such NSP proves that
(i) such offence or contravention was committed without its knowledge or
(ii) that it had exercised all due diligence to prevent the commission
of such offence or contravention.
Under the ITA, publication or transmission or causing publication of any
obscene information is an offence.
Therefore, if while using Internet telephony services, if the
subscribers transmit any obscene information, the ISP could be held
liable for such transmission. However, if the ISP can prove that it was
not aware of such contravention or if it had taken reasonable steps to
prevent such contravention, it may be immune from any penalty or
liability. Therefore, ISPs must be careful to include appropriate terms
in their subscriber agreements to preclude such liability.
(e) Validity of Messenger Services
Off late, there has been some debate regarding voice chat facility which
instant messenger services have been offering. There are various issues
that arise in this context which need to be addressed in order to
determine whether such a voice chat facility is legal.
The first issue that arises is whether such services amount to Internet
telephony. Under
normal circumstances, they would amount to Internet telephony as the
instant messengers
use the public Internet as a means of transmitting voice between two or
more users.
The second and more important issue is whether these messenger services
are permitted to offer these services in India. As discussed above, in
order to offer Internet telephony services, the service provider
requires a license. Currently only ISPs and basic service operators
(i.e.BSOs, NLDOs and ILDOs) are allowed to provide such services as per the
provisions of their licence. Moreover, no interconnection is allowed
between an ISP who has the Internet telephony licence and an ISP that
does not. Therefore, in order to offer the voice chat facility using the
public Internet, the messenger would have to obtain an ISP licence.
Otherwise, the messenger may have to enter into an appropriate
arrangement with the ISP wherein the voice chat facility is offered to
the messenger users. However, the validity of such an arrangement is
also unclear under the law (specially as ISPs are not allowed to assign
or sublicense their services). The issue is further complicated if the
ISP with w!
hom the messenger has an arrangement does not possess the Revised ISP
licence. It is essential that ISPs and the messenger services settle
this problem at the earliest.
(f) Blocking of Internet telephony websites
The ISP licence does not require that an ISP must provide Internet
telephony services only to its Internet subscribers, nor does it mandate
that Internet telephony and Internet services have to be provided
together. However, news reports indicate that after April 1, 2002, some
ISPs have started blocking access to websites of other rival ITSPs
(including
foreign ITSPs) . If so, do they have the authority to block the sites?
Further, many ITSPs have tied up with international ITSPs to leverage
their customer base. The viability of this option remains to be seen, as
foreign ITSPs can set up 100% subsidiaries in India without the help of
Indian ISPs. Infact, it may be economically advantageous for them to do
so as they would already have their servers and networks established in
foreign countries.
COMMUNICATIONS CONVERGENCE BILL, 2001
The Communications Convergence Bill, 2001 (Convergence Bill) aims at
promoting,
facilitating and developing the carriage and content of communications
including
broadcasting, telecommunication and multimedia in an orderly manner. It
recognizes the
coming together of voice, video and data, aims to set up a single
super-regulator
for the
telecom, Internet and broadcasting sectors, to be called the
Communications Commission of India (CCI). The Convergence Bill will
replace the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy
Act, 1933, the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950, the
Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the TRAI Act, 1997.
In the present scenario different services like basic telecom, cellular,
Internet and satellite television have different licenses and are
regulated by different agencies. The present situation does not allow
bundling of services, like your cable operator cannot offer you
telecommunication services, your ISP cannot carry voice etc. The
licensing regime that exists as of today service operator has to apply
for licenses separately and are permitted based on the regulations
governing service. This would change with the adoption of the
Communication Convergence Bill, 2000.Recommendations of the Bill:
The Convergence Bill proposes to have a single authority Communications
Commission of India responsible for issuance of licenses and regulating
the communications sector including the infrastructure and the content
delivered through the infrastructure. The bill also proposes setting up
Communications Appellate Tribunal. Any person aggrieved by any decision
or order or penalty of the commission could appeal to the tribunal for
speedy decision on the appeal. The commission and the appellate tribunal
have been given power equivalent of a civil court.
Responsibilities of the Commission.The commission would be responsible for providing licenses under four
categories namely:
1. Network Infrastructure facilities (Infrastructure Service Provider)
2. Network Services (Network Service Providers)
3. Application Services (Application Service Providers)
4. Content application services (Content ASP)
The classification is technology neutral and service sector neutral. The
segmentation of the market into the four different segments would be
based on the services provided . Each layer is dependent on one or more
of the earlier layers for the provision of services.The Act, it is hoped, shall usher in the era of convergent handling of
communication medium in place, ie the Communication Commission of India
shall be responsible of handling basic telephony, cellular service,
cable, satellite channel and Internet service operators. The bill shall
segment the market on the basis of the layers as illustrated above. This
would enable operators to obtain licenses for the specific layer rather
than for the service. For eg an operator could take license for
offering only infrastructure facility with the services being offered by
some other operator. Hughes Tele.com, the private basic service
operator for Maharashtra would be able to offer services like telephony,Internet (it offers these even today), interactive content or any other
service over the cable coming into your home.
The Convergent View
"Convergence" refers to the fact that different kinds of communication
services, whether in the form of voice, text or video, can be provided
using the same basic infrastructural facility, and similarly, different
kinds of infrastructural facilities can be utilised to provide the same
service. For instance, share prices can be accessed via the Internet on
a PC or through the wireless medium on a mobile phone.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the Bill lies in the name itself.
It recognises the "blurring of borders between telecommunications,
computing and media" . Further, it also acknowledges that "The
continuous development of new technologies results in an inability to
predict the future evolution of convergence viz. the development of new
services like web-casting, Internet Telephony etc. resulting in the need
for regulations which does (sic) not aim to predict the future, but
aspires to be flexible enough to accommodate and propagate any
permutation and combination of technologies and services."
The Bill, smartly enough, has steered clear of burdening itself with
technological details.
The three key aspects in any communication are :
The infrastructure facilities used, such as earth stations, satellites,
cables, etc.
The kind of service provided such as telephony, broadcast of cricket
matches, etc.
The technology used to provide the service
The Convergence Bill does not concern itself with the third aspect
above. It only seeks to regulate the communication sector based on the nature
of infrastructural facility and the nature of service provided.
The basic objectives
Irrespective of the infrastructure or technology used, long distance
communication is based on electromagnetic waves, of varying frequency.
In order to ensure hassle-free communication, a proper allocation of
frequency bands to various service providers is crucial . For this
purpose, the Bill proposes the setting up of a Spectrum Management
Committee, which will earmark distinctfrequency bands for use in
strategic and commercial purposes.
The Bill also envisages the setting up of the Communications Commission
of India, which will be the regulatory agency on the communications
sector. The Commission will be responsible for assigning the various
frequencies (earmarked by the Spectrum Management Committee for
commercial purposes) among the various users, and giving out licences to
service providers. The objectives of the Commission, as listed in the
draft Bill, are as follows:
"The Communications Commission of India, while exercising its functions
shall be guided by the following principles:
(i) that the communication sector is developed in a competitive
environment and that market dominance in a converged environment is
suitably regulated;
(ii) that communication services are made available at affordable cost
to all uncovered areas including the rural, remote, hilly and tribal
areas;
(iii) that there is increasing access to information for greater
empowerment of citizens and towards economic development;
(iv) that quality, plurality, diversity and choice of services are
promoted;
(v) that a modern and effective communication infrastructure is
established taking into account the convergence of information
technology, media, telecom and consumer electronics;
(vi) that defence and security interests of the country are fully
protected;
(vii) that introduction of new technologies, investment in services and
infrastructure, and maximization of communications facilities and
services (including telephone density) are encouraged;
(viii) that equitable, non-discriminatory interconnection across various
networks are promoted;
(ix) that licensing criteria are transparent and made known to the
public;
(x) that an open licensing policy allowing any number of new entrants
(except
in specific cases constrained by limited resources such as the spectrum)is promoted; and
(xi) that the principle of a level playing field for all operators
serving consumer interest, including existing operators on the date of
commencement of the Act, is promoted."
Effects
With the bill adopted, service operators would be able to offer multiple
services over the same network. This shall reduce the cost and other
overheads for the operator. The bill defines the physical network,
network services and the content delivered over them independently thus
enabling the use of the same network to carry multitude of services.
This shall help solve the anomaly of having a separate license and
network for say offering Internet, telephony and cable services .
The bill shall increase the value of companies in the communications
business specially the businesses owning the last mile access like MTNL,
Hughes Tele.com, BSNL etc. The cable operator in your colony would have
the best of the world with his network. He could now also start
bundling telephone services, Internet and other value added services
than just the plain old un-interactive cable television.Licensing Regime under the Bill
The Convergence Bill also provides for a new licensing regime, with a
limited number of five licenses, which include network infrastructure
facilities, networking services, network application services, content
application services and value-added network application services.
While granting licences, the CCI may grant them either singly or
jointly,
depending upon the nature of services to be offered. Therefore, while
providing Internet telephony services, the service provider would have
to obtain the network application services licence and probably the
value-added network application services licence under the Convergence
Bill.
CLASSIFICATION OF INTERNET TELEPHONY UNDER THE WTO
The General Agreement of Trade in Services (GATS) under the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) envisages the progressive liberalisation of trade in
telecommunications services. Though, India has made no specific
commitments for Internet telephony, it has made certain commitments for
other telecommunication services. Going forward, it would be important
for the Indian Government to understand how Internet telephony services
could be classified under the GATS framework while making any
commitments.
Under GATS, telephony falls within the purview of telecommunications
services as per the Central Product Classification System (CPC) .
Telecommunications services are further classified as basic
telecommunications and value-added telecommunications. It would be
useful to see what commitments India has made in this sector and analyse
how Internet telephony can be classified for the purposes of GATS.
(a) Basic Telecommunications Services vis--vis Internet Telephony
Basic telecommunications services are further classified as:
(i) Voice telephone;
(ii) Packet- switched data transmission;
(iii) Circuit- switched data transmission;
(iv) Telex;
(v) Telegraph;
(vi) Facsimile;
(vii) Private leased circuit;
(viii) Other - including mobile communications, and various others,
(e.g.satellite services, paging, trunked radio) depending upon the country.
For the purpose of Internet telephony services, voice telephone,
packet-switched
data
transmission and other services would be relevant. Of these three, India
has made
commitments with respect to voice telephone and other services.
(i) Voice Telephone
Voice Telephony Services have not been defined or explained under the
GATS.
View of the European Union:
It would be helpful to look at the definition of voice telephony
according to Article 1 of the Directive of European Union, which
defines Voice Telephony as the commercial provision for the public of
the direct transport and switching of speech in real time between Public
Switched Network termination points, enabling any user to communicate
with another termination point. Further as per the said Directive,
Internet telephony is defined as Voice Telephony if it meets the
following criteria:
the communications are subject of a commercial offer;
the service is provided for the public;
the service is provided to and from public switched network
termination points on fixed telephony network; and,it involves direct transport of speech in real-time.
As per this definition, it can be understood that the first two forms of
Internet Telephony (i.e. PC to PC and PC to Phone) would not be
characterised as Voice Telephony under this Directive, simply because
the service would not be provided solely "to and from PSTN points".
View of the United States: However, the US meaning of voice telephony is
broader. As per Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of USA, IP
telephony services enable real-time voice transmission using Internet
Protocols.
Voice Telephony as Public Telephone Services: Under the CPC, voice
telephony services are classified as Public Telephone Services. Public
Telephone Services are further classified as
Public local telephone services
Public long distance telephone services.
Mobile telephone services
With respect to voice telephone service, Indias commitments are limited
to local/long distance, for public use over a public telecommunication
transport network and wire based (i.e. for fixed network of subscribers)
services. The Internet is a public network of computers and can be used
for transport of telecommunications, such as voice and data. Thus, it
could be interpreted as a public telecommunication transport network in
case of Internet telephony.
As mentioned earlier, the main difference between Internet telephony and
normal telephony is that whereas in normal telephony, circuit switching
is used, Internet Telephony is based on packet switching technology .
In packet switching, electronic transmissions are chopped into packets
of varying numbers of bytes. Each packet is given a header or address
label, and sent from one network node towards another . The packets are
(theoretically) bounced along from one router to another, armed at each
hop with only enough information to get them safely to another router,
where the process is repeated. By contrast, on circuit-switched networks
operating under a protocol such as Signalling System 7 (SS7) a call is
routed through a hierarchy of local, inter-urban and international
switches to establish a circuit between caller and called party .
Though Internet Telephony could amount to voice telephony, it is
suggested that it should fall under a separate new category as it
involves a different form of technology from traditional voice telephone
services. This proposition can be supported by the fact that a separate
classification was resorted to with respect to mobile telephone
services based upon the technological difference between mobile
telephony and normal telephony.
Further, India has not made any specific commitments under voice
telephone for Mode 1(cross-border supply) and Mode 2 (consumption abroad) of supply under
the GATS. Therefore, even if Internet telephony is treated as voice
telephony, by opening up Internet telephony, India is already a step
ahead since it has not made any specific commitments in this respect.
(ii) Other Services
This is a broad group that includes various services such as mobile
communications, satellite services and radio paging services. As
discussed above, due to the technological differences, India could argue
that Internet Telephony should fall under this category. As of now,
India has only committed that foreign service providers can set up
operations to provide these services provided they obtain the licence
from the DoT. However, there are no commitments with respect to these
services under Mode 1 and 2.
Value-added Telecommunications Services
Value-added Telecommunications Services are classified as:
(i) Electronic mail,
(ii) Voice mail,
iii) On- line information and data base retrieval,
(iv) Electronic data interchange,
(v) Enhanced/ value- added facsimile services, including store and
forward, store and retrieve,
(vi) Code and protocol conversion,
(vii) On- line information and/ or data processing (inc. transaction
processing).India has made some commitments with respect to services (i),
(ii), (iii) and (v).
As per the CPC, these services have been qualified as Data and message
transmission services. Data and Message Transmission Services are
further sub-divided into:
(i) Data Network Services (75231): Network services necessary to
transmit data between equipment using the same or different protocols.
This service can be provided via a public or dedicated data network
(i.e.via a network dedicated to the customer's use);
(ii) Electronic Message and Information Services (75232): Network and
related services (hardware and software) necessary to send and receive
electronic messages (telegraph and telex/TWX services) and/or to access
and manipulate information in databases (so-called value-added network
services).
However, Internet telephony may not fall under these categories, as it
is not a network
service . Further, India has no commitments with respect to Electronic
data interchange, Code and protocol conversion and On- line information
and/ or data processing (inc. transaction processing). From the above
analysis, it can be concluded that Internet Telephony services could
fall within the meaning of Voice Telephony services. However, due to the
technological difference between Internet telephony and traditional
voice telephony, it would be suitable to formulate a separate category
for classification of Internet telephony. Depending upon the reciprocal
commitments India receives from other countries, it could use these as a
negotiating tool at the WTO.
CONCLUSION
With increased competition in the telecommunications sector, relatively
high tariffs and low tele-density, India is an attractive market for
Internet telephony and VoIP. In fact, experts have indicated that India
will be the fourth largest market for Internet telephony in the Asia
Pacific region, after China, Japan and South Korea. After the opening
up of this sector, several foreign companies have also joined the race
to offer Internet telephony services in India. For example, US-based
Net2Phone and India based CalTiger have joined hands to deliver VoIP
services to the United States at as low as Rs 3 per minute. Further,
World Phone Internet Services Pvt. Limited, a joint venture between
US-based
WPI group and Delhi-based IT-enabled service company Speed India.com
Holdings has already ventured into Internet telephony in the country.
Several market players have also begun plans to commence and offer
video-conferencing
facilities.
While the growth of Internet telephony will certainly increase the
competition with basic service operators, on the whole the consumer will
stand to gain. However, regulations that artificially restrict the
usage and growth of Internet telephony will only make the viability of
this service more complex and ambiguous. The DoT needs to try to resolve
all forms of ambiguity in the licence terms to avoid future
misunderstandings. At the same time, service providers must ensure that
their Internet telephony services fall within the parameters of the
existing regulatory framework. This will assist in minimizing legal
liability.
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