" The Intelligence Bureau feels that Internet telephony should be banned as it poses a threat to the security of the country. Even as such services become popular across the world, a debate rages in India on the need to regularise VoIP"
In what comes as a setback for millions of users of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in India, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has asked the Ministry of Communication to block all Internet telephony (VoIP) services to and from the country until the Department of Telecom (DoT) puts in place a mechanism to track such calls.
The IB order -- issued in September 2009 -- states that India does not have the capability to track Internet telephony calls -- domestic and international. It has asked DoT to find an “early solution to this issue in the interest of national security”.
“In the absence of Caller Line Identification (CLI) parameters of calls landing from abroad, it becomes next to impossible to identify the location of the caller, we have approached DoT to block such calls till a technical solution is found,” said the IB communication.
All About VoIP
Internet telephony is a technology that allows users to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of the regular landline or mobile.
There are two categories of voice transmission over IP networks. Voice transmitted over public Internet and managed VoIP. The primary difference between voice services on managed and unmanaged IP networks is quality of speech.
However, this difference is getting diminished with technological advancement, new coding techniques and availability of higher bandwidth provided by broadband connections. The calls can be made from one PC to another, form a VoIP phone to any another phone and from a PC to a phone. While the first two methods are acceptable among regulators, the third form has always raised controversies around the world. Similarly, with the growing popularity of mobile phones, IP calling through mobile phones is growing too.
Says Sanjeet Chatterjee, global marketing head and country manager (India operations), REVE Systems, a leading IP Telephony and Mobile VoIP solutions provider, “Introduction of mobile VoIP has ushered in a lot of convenience in IP calling as one does not need to buy special VoIP phones. Mobile phone users can just download the mobile VoIP application like Skype or iTel Mobile Dialer and use it to for making VoIP calls from their cellphone the same way you make normal calls. For connecting to the Internet, they can use Wi-Fi or GPRS/ 3G services offered by mobile carriers.”
Indian Aspect
With nearly 457million wireless subscribers, mobile phones cover nearly 42 per cent of India’s population. Given their unprecedented coverage, cellphones are increasingly seen as agents of socio-economic development.
On April 1, 2002, India had allowed restricted Internet PC to PC, VoIP phone to phone and PC to phone. Though unrestricted VoIP was allowed for Unified Access Service Providers and Cellular Mobile Service Providers in March 2006, the telcos never promoted these services for fear of losing lucrative voice revenue.
With all good intentions, TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) recommended in August 2008 that even Internet Service Providers (ISPs) could provide unrestricted VoIP, as it would bring down prices of International Long Distance (ILD) and National Long Distance (NLD) calls. These recommendations were aimed to put the Indian telecom sector in tune with the global trends and curtail grey market tendencies for the benefits for consumers and ISPs.
The Repercussions
If DoT implements the IB directive, it will impact lakhs of consumers who use VoIP to make calls at extremely low cost to phones and free calls to computers across the globe. According to TRAI’s latest performance indicators report, Indian consumers used over 130 million minutes of Internet telephony in the January-March quarter 2009. Says Chatterjee, “This will be quite a regressive step as many NRIs around the world use VoIP to stay connected with friends and family. Even Indian businesses remain competitive because they can use VoIP. So if VoIP is stopped, it will be detrimental to the image of India and its growth story. It is possible to get CLI of customers making VoIP calls. DoT just needs to mandate someone to set this up and help service providers pool in the data.”
However, cyber security expert Vijay Mukhi feels the IB should have issued such directions immediately after the 26/11 terror attacks. “The terrorists used net telephony as they were aware that India did not have the technological capabilities to do a live trace of such calls. In the US and Europe, all players who offer VoIP services have provisions that allow the governments to track these calls. Many of them have also installed equipment at their premises to monitor VoIP calls upon orders from governments.”
Global Popularity
Across the world, Internet telephony remains one of the cheapest and easiest ways to stay connected. US analysts Telegeography predict that the global revenue from VoIP will reach US$ 5 billion with 16 per cent of the total telephony subscribers by 2010. Other estimates are much higher. According to Juniper Research, revenues from VoIP services in the business sector alone will reach US$ 18 billion by 2010, with hosted VoIP business revenues reaching US$ 7.6 billion.
According to recent reports, the US is the first among the top 10 countries in providing retail VoIP services followed by Japan and France. A survey of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) carried out by iLocus has revealed that the number of mobile VoIP subscribers served by MVNOs will reach 2 million by the end of 2009. As of April 2009 MVNOs serve an estimated 450,000 mobile VoIP subscribers worldwide. The 550,000 mobile VoIP subscribers worldwide will grow to 3.5 million by the end of 2009 and to 26.6 million by 2012.
A recent report by In-Stat, a research agency, found that in North America and Canada, cable operators are aggressively expanding their VoIP footprint, but are marketing VoIP as plain old telephone service. In Asia, South Korea will have the highest VoIP growth rate, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore.
Challenges Ahead
Ever since the IB released its directive, there have been numerous debates for and against the need to regulate Internet telephony in India. Many ISPs strongly oppose any regulation on VoIP calls saying that they are just one of the many services (such as chatting, browsing, Email) that VoIP providers/ISPs offers to customers. Hence it should be considered as an information service.
Moreover, when a user makes a VoIP call, it is difficult to determine the exact location of the origination/destination of the call (location of the PC, location of the gateway) and hence it is not possible to bring it under the interconnection regulation and levy termination access charges as is currently practiced in a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) call. Says Chatterjee, “The Indian market for VoIP is restricted as users can only make calls outside India. Also government regulations prevent interconnection between PSTN and IP, which prevents calling cards/call back services. VoIP market will witness a boom only when the government lifts these restrictions. VoIP helps cut down communications cost and promotes unified messaging from mobile phones.”
However, some people argue that technology advancements have made quality of VoIP calls a close substitute for PSTN calls and hence should be treated the same way as the latter. Moreover, with the low-cost VoIP adapters that can be plugged in to connect inexpensive analog phones to broadband lines, VoIP is becoming widely accessible much like PSTN and hence should be regulated the same way. This should include mandatory emergency numbering and contribution to Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund.
Another view is that a level playing field is now being created between telcos and ISPs. In 2006 DoT had implemented a licence fee of 6 per cent on revenue (including contribution to USO fund) for Internet telephony services offered by ISPs. This was in line with the licence fee for NLD and ILD services. Hence, unrestricted VoIP was to compete with NLD and ILD services. Yet, TRAI warns, “The regulatory restrictions on ISPs to provide unrestricted Internet telephony and lack of interest among access providers to offer similar services are encouraging development of the grey markets in Internet telephony. Some press reports and other information indicate extension of other countries’ numbers in the Indian territory to provide Internet telephony using broadband connections..”
It adds, “The regulatory environment should be dynamic, enabling, efficient and encourage competition. Hence regulatory framework for Internet telephony has to be considered in view of convergence and other similar developments taking place across the globe.” Rapid technological developments and better quality of voice communications are shaping the future of telecom. As the world advances with newer and faster technologies, we are still stuck with outdated ones. It will be interesting to see the regulator come up with newer recommendations that will make it easier for India to keep pace with the world.
In what comes as a setback for millions of users of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in India, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has asked the Ministry of Communication to block all Internet telephony (VoIP) services to and from the country until the Department of Telecom (DoT) puts in place a mechanism to track such calls.
The IB order -- issued in September 2009 -- states that India does not have the capability to track Internet telephony calls -- domestic and international. It has asked DoT to find an “early solution to this issue in the interest of national security”.
“In the absence of Caller Line Identification (CLI) parameters of calls landing from abroad, it becomes next to impossible to identify the location of the caller, we have approached DoT to block such calls till a technical solution is found,” said the IB communication.
All About VoIP
Internet telephony is a technology that allows users to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of the regular landline or mobile.
There are two categories of voice transmission over IP networks. Voice transmitted over public Internet and managed VoIP. The primary difference between voice services on managed and unmanaged IP networks is quality of speech.
However, this difference is getting diminished with technological advancement, new coding techniques and availability of higher bandwidth provided by broadband connections. The calls can be made from one PC to another, form a VoIP phone to any another phone and from a PC to a phone. While the first two methods are acceptable among regulators, the third form has always raised controversies around the world. Similarly, with the growing popularity of mobile phones, IP calling through mobile phones is growing too.
Says Sanjeet Chatterjee, global marketing head and country manager (India operations), REVE Systems, a leading IP Telephony and Mobile VoIP solutions provider, “Introduction of mobile VoIP has ushered in a lot of convenience in IP calling as one does not need to buy special VoIP phones. Mobile phone users can just download the mobile VoIP application like Skype or iTel Mobile Dialer and use it to for making VoIP calls from their cellphone the same way you make normal calls. For connecting to the Internet, they can use Wi-Fi or GPRS/ 3G services offered by mobile carriers.”
Indian Aspect
With nearly 457million wireless subscribers, mobile phones cover nearly 42 per cent of India’s population. Given their unprecedented coverage, cellphones are increasingly seen as agents of socio-economic development.
On April 1, 2002, India had allowed restricted Internet PC to PC, VoIP phone to phone and PC to phone. Though unrestricted VoIP was allowed for Unified Access Service Providers and Cellular Mobile Service Providers in March 2006, the telcos never promoted these services for fear of losing lucrative voice revenue.
With all good intentions, TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) recommended in August 2008 that even Internet Service Providers (ISPs) could provide unrestricted VoIP, as it would bring down prices of International Long Distance (ILD) and National Long Distance (NLD) calls. These recommendations were aimed to put the Indian telecom sector in tune with the global trends and curtail grey market tendencies for the benefits for consumers and ISPs.
The Repercussions
If DoT implements the IB directive, it will impact lakhs of consumers who use VoIP to make calls at extremely low cost to phones and free calls to computers across the globe. According to TRAI’s latest performance indicators report, Indian consumers used over 130 million minutes of Internet telephony in the January-March quarter 2009. Says Chatterjee, “This will be quite a regressive step as many NRIs around the world use VoIP to stay connected with friends and family. Even Indian businesses remain competitive because they can use VoIP. So if VoIP is stopped, it will be detrimental to the image of India and its growth story. It is possible to get CLI of customers making VoIP calls. DoT just needs to mandate someone to set this up and help service providers pool in the data.”
However, cyber security expert Vijay Mukhi feels the IB should have issued such directions immediately after the 26/11 terror attacks. “The terrorists used net telephony as they were aware that India did not have the technological capabilities to do a live trace of such calls. In the US and Europe, all players who offer VoIP services have provisions that allow the governments to track these calls. Many of them have also installed equipment at their premises to monitor VoIP calls upon orders from governments.”
Global Popularity
Across the world, Internet telephony remains one of the cheapest and easiest ways to stay connected. US analysts Telegeography predict that the global revenue from VoIP will reach US$ 5 billion with 16 per cent of the total telephony subscribers by 2010. Other estimates are much higher. According to Juniper Research, revenues from VoIP services in the business sector alone will reach US$ 18 billion by 2010, with hosted VoIP business revenues reaching US$ 7.6 billion.
According to recent reports, the US is the first among the top 10 countries in providing retail VoIP services followed by Japan and France. A survey of Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) carried out by iLocus has revealed that the number of mobile VoIP subscribers served by MVNOs will reach 2 million by the end of 2009. As of April 2009 MVNOs serve an estimated 450,000 mobile VoIP subscribers worldwide. The 550,000 mobile VoIP subscribers worldwide will grow to 3.5 million by the end of 2009 and to 26.6 million by 2012.
A recent report by In-Stat, a research agency, found that in North America and Canada, cable operators are aggressively expanding their VoIP footprint, but are marketing VoIP as plain old telephone service. In Asia, South Korea will have the highest VoIP growth rate, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore.
Challenges AheadEver since the IB released its directive, there have been numerous debates for and against the need to regulate Internet telephony in India. Many ISPs strongly oppose any regulation on VoIP calls saying that they are just one of the many services (such as chatting, browsing, Email) that VoIP providers/ISPs offers to customers. Hence it should be considered as an information service.
Moreover, when a user makes a VoIP call, it is difficult to determine the exact location of the origination/destination of the call (location of the PC, location of the gateway) and hence it is not possible to bring it under the interconnection regulation and levy termination access charges as is currently practiced in a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) call. Says Chatterjee, “The Indian market for VoIP is restricted as users can only make calls outside India. Also government regulations prevent interconnection between PSTN and IP, which prevents calling cards/call back services. VoIP market will witness a boom only when the government lifts these restrictions. VoIP helps cut down communications cost and promotes unified messaging from mobile phones.”
However, some people argue that technology advancements have made quality of VoIP calls a close substitute for PSTN calls and hence should be treated the same way as the latter. Moreover, with the low-cost VoIP adapters that can be plugged in to connect inexpensive analog phones to broadband lines, VoIP is becoming widely accessible much like PSTN and hence should be regulated the same way. This should include mandatory emergency numbering and contribution to Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund.
Another view is that a level playing field is now being created between telcos and ISPs. In 2006 DoT had implemented a licence fee of 6 per cent on revenue (including contribution to USO fund) for Internet telephony services offered by ISPs. This was in line with the licence fee for NLD and ILD services. Hence, unrestricted VoIP was to compete with NLD and ILD services. Yet, TRAI warns, “The regulatory restrictions on ISPs to provide unrestricted Internet telephony and lack of interest among access providers to offer similar services are encouraging development of the grey markets in Internet telephony. Some press reports and other information indicate extension of other countries’ numbers in the Indian territory to provide Internet telephony using broadband connections..”
It adds, “The regulatory environment should be dynamic, enabling, efficient and encourage competition. Hence regulatory framework for Internet telephony has to be considered in view of convergence and other similar developments taking place across the globe.” Rapid technological developments and better quality of voice communications are shaping the future of telecom. As the world advances with newer and faster technologies, we are still stuck with outdated ones. It will be interesting to see the regulator come up with newer recommendations that will make it easier for India to keep pace with the world.
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