NEW DELHI: The Cellular Operators Association of India, which represents India’s telecom firms, on Tuesday said that over-the-top (OTT) communication platforms like WhatsApp are indeed classified as access services under the Telecommunications Act, 2023. This interpretation, which government officials have disputed in the past, came as a response to tech companies’ pushback against telcos’ demands that the former be placed under a licensing framework like they are. 

"It is crucial to understand that TSPs operate across all seven layers of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. In the 4G/5G era, TSPs deliver their services through applications that span the entire OSI stack. This comprehensive approach ensures end-to-end service delivery, from physical infrastructure to user-facing applications. Their service delivery is on the application layer of the OSI stack", said the COAI their statement. 

Conversely, OTT platforms primarily function at the application layer, relying on the underlying infrastructure and services provided by TSPs. These platforms leverage the robust network architecture and OSI layers, established and maintained by telecom operators to deliver their services.

This mischaracterization overlooks the complex, multi-layered nature of TSP operations and underestimates their crucial role in enabling the digital ecosystem. It is essential to recognize the full role of TSP operations in the telecommunications landscape, particularly as we advance into the 5G era and beyond.
 

“As per our understanding, OTT communication services are covered under the new Telecom Act as an access service,” COAI director general S.P. Kocchar said in a statement. “To address the issues of the non-level playing field and ensure adoption of principles of ‘same service, same rule’, these competing and substitutable services should be included under Access Services authorization under the new framework, he added.