Indian Government Moving To Regulate VoIP?

December 11th, 2006: The Indian Government is reportedly preparing a crackdown on VoIP services, citing security risks and loss of revenue.

The clampdown is targeted at outsourcers and other Indian IT businesses that use foreign owned VoIP services, such as Skype and Yahoo!, to cut their phone bills and evade the six percent revenue share and 12 percent tax imposed on local services by the government.

According to the The India Times, companies must reveal the names of authorised service providers they purchase bandwidth and internet telephony minutes from. Companies will also have to promise that they will not use the services of unlicensed foreign providers.

The paper says that Department of Telecommunications’ (DOT) estimates that 30 million minutes of internet telephony are provided every month by “unlicensed” services. The department also said that VoIP services could pose a security risk as they are not subject to Indian regulatory and policy framework.

The plan has been welcomed by the Internet Service Providers Association of India as it is viewed as a way to level the playing field for VoIP services within the country as well as tighten security. “It is essential that the government seeks this undertaking from call centres as these foreign service providers do not possess the requisite licences as mandated by the Government of India for Indian ISPs,” said ISPAI president Rajesh Chharia.

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