Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) in a meeting with Minister of Communications, Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday, have reiterated their demand of bringing all the over-the-top (OTT) players like WhatsApp to same service same rules.

“The TSPs sought supportive policy framework to encourage investments towards the path of 100 per cent broadband coverage in country. Various reasons and possible measures to improve the quality of telecom service were also discussed,” a source at Department of Telecommunication (DoT) told businessline.

The SAC that comprised Vodafone-Idea Managing Director, Akshaya Moondra and Reliance Jio MD, Panakj Pawar, expressed the view that for India to become a deep tech leader, penetration of both wireline and intelligent wireless broadband networks with reliable connectivity, is critical, the official said.

“The SAC members also emphasised systematically aligning research to India’s needs and put in place a vibrant standards community. India has already taken various initiatives like launch of Bharat 6G Vision and Bharat 6G Alliance, patent and IPR support framework, commissioning of testbeds, and country can aspire for achieving 10 per cent of all 6G patents and one-sixth contributions to global standards promoting India’s needs. SAC proposed a three-year roadmap for achieving it,” the official added.

Telecom reforms

The government has been working on reforms for the telecom sector and since taking charge in June, Scindia has constituted six Stakeholders Advisory Committee (SAC) on TSPs. The first meeting of the committee was held last month attended by heads of the telecom companies like Bharit Airtel’s Sunil Mittal, Reliance Jio’s Akash Ambani, Chief Executive Office of Airtel Gopal Vittal, and Vodafone-Idea Managing Director Akshaya Moondra, apart from representatives of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

On Friday, he took the second meeting along with Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Minister of State for Communications, engaging all stakeholders in expanding and shaping the future of India’s telecommunication ecosystem and fostering inclusive and collaborative policy decision-making.

“Had a productive meeting with the Advisory Group of Telecom Service providers. Discussed issues pertaining to quality of services, India’s 6G vision and promoting research and development to take our sector to new heights of development,” Scindia said in a post on X.

Earlier this week, several industry bodies including the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), Nasscom, Broadband India Forum (BIF) and US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) have cautioned that TSPs are yet again pushing the TRAI to bring OTTs under a licensing or authorisation regime since they provide similar services to what mobile phone operators offer.

However, they opined that TSPs operate on the network layer while OTT providers operate on the application layer and therefore, same service same rules do not apply to OTTs.