New Delhi: Amid widespread criticism, Bharti Airtel on Monday decided to defer its decision to charge extra for phone calls made using free messaging services such as Skype and Viber apps on phones and tablets.
"In view of the news reports that a consultation paper will be issued shortly by (regulator) TRAI on issues relating to services offered by OTT players including VoIP, we have decided not to implement our proposed launch of VoIP packs," Airtel said in a statement.
Last week the company announced a proposal to charge higher tariff for voice over internet telephony (VoIP) for its pre-paid subscribers – which many called as an attempt to breach net neutrality. The telco said it would charge VoIP calls at 4p/10KB on 3G, and 10p/10KB on 2G. So even if you had an active 2G/3G internet data pack, you still needed need to shell out a little extra for VoIP calls.
Net neutrality essentially means that Internet service providers treat all online data equally. This is how the Internet has been operating since it came into existence.
The proposal by Airtel came as a big blow to users who have become accustomed to using such services to connect with their friends and family overseas. Users even took to social networking sites to vent their anger against the operator.
On its part, the Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Rahul Khullar has admitted that Airtel's plans to charge a higher rate for VoIP traffic was against the principles of net neutrality, but added that under the current legal and regulatory frameworks, the move was perfectly legal and outside the ambit of the regulator.
VoIP services include communications applications such as Skype, Line and Viber that typically let users make free calls through the Internet. Skype and other such apps have gained traction in the recent past mostly because of such services being offered for free and users only pay for the data usage, mostly bundled with the internet package paid for them.
"We have no doubt that as a result of the consultation process, a balanced outcome would emerge that would not only protect the interests of all stakeholders and viability of this important sector but would also encourage much needed investments in spectrum and roll out of data networks to fulfill the objective of digital India," Airtel said.
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