Technoglitch
Core Member
Raising concerns over over-the-top (OTT) players eating into voice revenues of telcos, former Vodafone India head Marten Pieters today said it could be "fatal" for the industry. "OTT is a serious worry. Eighty-five per cent of revenue of operators in India is voice, if that goes away, its fatal. Revenues are moving away to content and data from voice," Pieters said during the CEOs round-table organised by industry body COAI.
Net neutrality implies equal treatment be accorded to all Internet traffic and no priority should be given to any person or entity or company based on payment, which is seen as discriminatory.
Bharti Airtel Joint MD and CEO (India and South Asia) Gopal Vittal said the industry wants a level playing field and same rules should be applied for same set of services. He though said there should not be a licencing regime for OTT services. "The key thing is to have a proper discourse. I think the discourse has to be objective and meaningful, it can't be shrill din...first and foremost I want to clarify we believe that OTT services should not be licenced, let me make that absolutely clear," Vittal said. He said the reason they believe OTT players should not be licenced is because the last thing they would want is to stifle innovation that is happening in the OTT space. "Growth of data services is caused by innovation happening in the OTT space and that is why we love OTT players because that is what drives our data growth. However, the only thing to nuances is that their basic voice services that are being offered all we are saying is subject everybody to same rules," he added. MORE KIR PRS MKJ
Revenue going to content & data from voice big worry: Marten Pieters | ET Telecom
Net neutrality implies equal treatment be accorded to all Internet traffic and no priority should be given to any person or entity or company based on payment, which is seen as discriminatory.
Bharti Airtel Joint MD and CEO (India and South Asia) Gopal Vittal said the industry wants a level playing field and same rules should be applied for same set of services. He though said there should not be a licencing regime for OTT services. "The key thing is to have a proper discourse. I think the discourse has to be objective and meaningful, it can't be shrill din...first and foremost I want to clarify we believe that OTT services should not be licenced, let me make that absolutely clear," Vittal said. He said the reason they believe OTT players should not be licenced is because the last thing they would want is to stifle innovation that is happening in the OTT space. "Growth of data services is caused by innovation happening in the OTT space and that is why we love OTT players because that is what drives our data growth. However, the only thing to nuances is that their basic voice services that are being offered all we are saying is subject everybody to same rules," he added. MORE KIR PRS MKJ
Revenue going to content & data from voice big worry: Marten Pieters | ET Telecom
