Ensure sustainability of network investments: GSMA chief to regulators

Time of India

3 days ago

NEW DELHI: Regulators worldwide should ensure a level-playing field and facilitate infrastructure deployment following concerns around sustainability of
network investments
in the wake of over-the-top (OTT) or mobile app-based services, a top
GSMA
executive said.
'There are growing concerns around the sustainability of network investment. Regulators should ensure a level playing field that encourages ongoing infrastructure development, while fostering innovation and consumer choice,'
Vivek Badrinath
, director-general, GSMA, told ETTelecom.
In April this year, London-based GSMA appointed Badrinath to the top GSMA executive leadership role replacing Mats Granryd.
WhatsApp
, Messenger, Telegram, Viber and Google Talk are some of the leading mobile communication applications with operators demanding a 'fair share' from them for carrying
data traffic
on their networks.
On the contrary, OTT providers argue that telcos should be the ones paying mobile app players for pushing data traffic onto their networks. More than 70% of the data traffic on telecom networks is being generated by OTT providers alone.
Further, Badrinath said that a transparent, and future-ready regulatory framework would be essentially required, considering "fair contribution models" and shared responsibility for network resilience.
'We believe in a balanced and collaborative approach, OTT players and mobile operators both benefit from - and contribute to - the digital ecosystem,' the top GSMA executive added.
Like other nations, India does not have a policy framework or regulatory regime for OTT platforms.
The Delhi-based Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) that represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, said that since telecom service providers and OTT communication players offer same service, a level-playing field should be ensured with the former spending huge money in spectrum purchase and network deployment.
India's telco group also advocated that players who are large traffic generators (LTG) must also pay a fair share to network service operators toward capital expenditure (capex) in putting up telecom infrastructure.
In 2023, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) released a consultation paper seeking comments from stakeholders on the regulatory mechanism for a selective ban of OTT players.
Incumbent telcos Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) in a response to telecom watchdog, favoured a compensation model from mobile apps, for deploying and maintaining telecom networks by them that enables OTT platforms to offer seamless services to their subscribers.
Earlier, head of Asia Pacific at GSMA Julian Gorman said that "a
fair share contribution
by tech companies or OTT players would bring motivation to investors."
The mobile data traffic is expected to reach 415 million terabytes per month by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 19.8% from 2024 to 2030, according to a recent Research and Markets study.
The finding by the Dublin-based research firm attributed escalating video streaming consumption and social media content in addition to next generation or
5G networks
as key data traffic growth drivers worldwide.
Early this year, the German market reserach firm Statista in a study said that the OTT video users are likely to reach 4.9 billion by 2029.