WhatsApp, Viber and Skype | PTA may regulate mobile apps and OTT services

WhatsApp, Viber and Skype :

  ISLAMABAD    (August 16, 2016) : Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is considering regulating the mobile apps and Over the Top (OTT) services such as WhatsApp, Viber and Skype, etc, Sources said the model for delivery of Internet-based VoIP and other OTT services is fundamentally different from the earlier model in which services were embedded in the network. Therefore, most regulatory regimes designed in accordance with the earlier model are not satisfactory when applied in this context. The proposed revision to the licensing framework will address this issue in the long term. PTA is working on a framework through which it hopes to be able to regulate mobile apps and OTT services. PTA has constituted a committee which is working on the said framework to be shared with stakeholders including telecom operators as soon as it is ready. The committee was tasked to formulate recommendations through which OTT services, mainly the mobile apps, will be brought under regulation in Pakistan. PTA said that all efforts for getting a framework for regulating OTT are driven by the Telecom Policy 2015 that the Ministry of Information Technology approved and issued. Telecom Policy 2015 said the framework will enable the government to make sure that such mobile apps are in line with national interests and do not hurt telecom sector's (operators) interests. Officials said there is an immediate requirement to regulate services such as VoIP and other voice services that are partial or full substitutes for the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network, particularly when the services are provided by unlicensed service providers either in Pakistan or in other countries. PTA, in consultation with federal government and stakeholders, will develop appropriate regulatory framework to treat VoIP and other OTT services. The framework will take account of the possibility that service providers offering such services may preferably install equipment in Pakistan where possible, the rapidity of development of such services, the extensive range of such services, the potential requirements for scarce resources (eg numbers), requirements for access to emergency services, requirements for lawful interception, cooperation with Law Enforcement Agencies, data retention obligations on operators, impact on operator networks, and where appropriate, the requirement for interconnection with the equivalent embedded or OTT. Taking into account the globally emerging revenue sharing arrangements between local licensees and OTT players, for offering better than normal best-effort or differentiated version of the services, licensed access providers will be free to enter into mutual agreements with the service providers enabling them to monetize OTT service delivery on mutually agreed terms. New regulatory framework may also incorporate revenue sharing arrangements between local licensees (telcos for instance) and OTT players (WhatsApp, Skype, Viber, etc), for offering differentiated version of the services (free and paid) so that licensed businesses could enter into mutual agreements with OTT service providers to monetize OTT service delivery on mutually agreed terms. According to the sources, US and India also framed such regulations and are in implementation phases.