TRAI To Levy Usage Fee On WhatsApp & Other Messaging Apps. Fair Enough?
With the increase in usage of instant messaging applications, the telecom companies have also started making noise. Telecom Regulation Authority of India (TRAI) have decided to introduce a particular amount of fee for the usage of Instant messaging apps like Whatsapp, Skype, Viber, Hike etc. In April this year TRAI had revealed that they are working on a paper that looks at the impact of over-the-top (OTT) players. Now, no prizes for guessing OTT players, the instant messaging applications, which definitely have brought a big threat for telecos with their raising usage, could now experience a setback as TRAI found their solution by putting a fixed charge on them.
In this new deal, the Instant messaging applications like Whatsapp, Hike, Viber, WeChat have to pay some connectivity charges to the Indian telecom companies and share some part of their revenue with the Government, said the authorities in the TRAI held seminar to formulate the process.
New developments in OTT, legal and regulatory framework of it, and their impact on Indian telecom companies along with the counter measures, were also main points which were discussed in the seminar. Except the fee there could not be any other restrictions on messaging applications.
There is a possibility that, TRAI have taken this step as several telecom companies like Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone wanted the messaging apps to pay a connectivity charge to make up for the losses in revenue, as these apps have replaced SMSes also are responsible in considerable decrease in even phone calls also.
As per a report, the telecom companies loose around 5000 Crore Rs. annually because of these free messaging apps. And the figure is expected to become three times in next two years to come. We expect a win-win situation for both telecom companies as well as the messaging apps, and of course the users.
Emmanuel
August 20, 2014 at 10:55 am
Lightening Voice speaks .
I dont agree that they lose money because of fewer calls or smses
let me give you a scenario.
it is an old joke
“”
boy comes to papa
says
father i saved 7 rs by running behind the bus and coming home instead of boarding the bus
father said you fool
you should have ran behind the taxi .. you would have saved 30 rs.
“”
Now if we see this joke seriously.. Do you think the taxi driver is losing 30 rs.
if i refuse to use the taxi .. why should the government enforce me to pay something because the taxi is losing 30 rs.
think about it.
that means
the private cab is losing 200rs going by that theory ..
so the government should enforce me to pay up for that also !!!!
if i opt for railways instead of the aeroplane its is because it fits my budget.
Why should i bother if the aeroplane is losing 12000 Rs if i refuse to buy a flight a ticket
and why am i responsible ?
and why the government should hold me responsible for that?
my simple answer
Iam customer . I am the boss. ( they have forgotten their first lesson)
“YOUR SERVICES ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED”
Your phone calls are no longer required. i have instant messaging. i chose to use instant messaging instead of phone calls or sms.
That way the postal department should also make noise that paper letters are no longer used these days. so the government should make a another rule. ( they are working on a paper as i see )
for every 10 instant messages. the customer must write one letter to the friend.
compulsory.
going by the same way
the telegram is defunct now
so the government should make another paper.
for every 100 im messages. the user should writer 10 postal letters and one atleast 2 telegrams . the customer will be watched everytime. snooped.
then another rule.another paper
1000 im messages. = 100 postal letter compulsory. = 10 telegrams compulsory = one pigeon message compulsory (kabootar ja)
aur kuch????
this is called reverse evolution.. backward growth.. forced detour..
government control
by the way are you noticing that the data usage (internet data packs) is becoming expensive day by day
the download limit is falling and the usage days validity is also falling for the same price.
we fail to notice that . because we say the same price for the internet data packs.
if this gets amended
they make money from both ends
the increasing cost of data usage and
the sudden OTT fee
I dont like this so called win win situation.