Trai moots forbearance for OTT communication services such as WhatsApp

“No regulatory interventions are required in respect of issues related with privacy and security of OTT services at the moment… It is not an opportune moment to recommend a comprehensive regulatory framework for various aspects of OTT services," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in its recommendations on regulatory framework for OTT communication services.

The telecom regulator suggested that the need to get communication details in intelligible form or clear text from the OTT services would either compromise the safety of user data or lead to provisions that make the communication agents vulnerable.

Trai noted that the matter of privacy with regards to OTT services is being examined by various international jurisdictions and no satisfactory solution has emerged as yet.

“While few jurisdictions have started exploring possibilities to regulate some aspects of a few OTT services through legal and technical measures but these efforts are yet in nascent stage, and the overwhelming majority of jurisdictions are still studying various aspects of OTTs," the regulator said.

OTT services refer to applications where providers deliver audio, video and other media over an IP network such as the internet, bypassing the traditional telecom operators. Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and Hike are popular and widely-used OTT communication services.

Trai also said any intervention in the OTT services may lead to disruption in the industry, which has witnessed massive traffic growth in the past few years. With this view, Trai suggested that the market forces may be allowed to respond to a situation without prescribing any regulatory intervention.

“However, developments shall be monitored and intervention as felt necessary shall be done at appropriate time," the sector regulator said.

With its view to stick to forbearance, Trai said economic, privacy and regulatory issues related to the OTT services can be revisited when more clarity emerges in international jurisdictions, particularly the study undertaken by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).