Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel called for the homogeneousness in the Centre’s Rules and Regulations for all the types of services, such as Over-the-Top, i.e. OTT and Mobile Telephony, with lines blurring between them, gradually hinting at convergence.

“I think the telecom draft bill renders us an opportunity at present to create a new background with a new architecture and starts pulling ahead,” Rahul Vatts, Chief Regulatory Officer (CRO), Bharti Airtel, mentioned at a panel discussion at the India Mobile Congress. “I’m certain the regulator will stabilise the needs of an innovation and the business.”

In the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, the Centre has engorged the description of telecom services, conveying OTT communication services such as WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram, as well as Satellite Communication services, internet, and broadband services, under its influence. The telecom department has hanged the draft for consultation among shareholders and may be able to finalise the suggestions in the upcoming six to eight months. However, the app makers strongly oppose being delimited under telecom licenses, saying that they are already administered under the IT Act and that any additional regulation will smother innovation.

Though Bharti Airtel’s Vatts said, the services offered by OTT communication apps are equivalence with what is offered by licensed machinists. “So I think it’s time that we precise this policy unevenness and ensure that the game rules are the same for everyone,” he said.