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Internet Telephony in India Status & Issues. V K Agarwal Dy. Advisor(Converged Networks) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Internet Telephony : Present Status. 1st April 2002 - Internet telephony opened in India Only then existing ISPs were allowed to provide Internet telephony
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Internet Telephony in IndiaStatus & Issues V K Agarwal Dy. Advisor(Converged Networks) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
Internet Telephony :Present Status • 1st April 2002 - Internet telephony opened in India • Only then existing ISPs were allowed to provide Internet telephony • Presently following are permitted, to provide Internet Telephony service. • CMSPs : unrestricted (yet to be started) • UASPs : unrestricted (yet to be started) • BSOs : unrestricted (yet to be started) • ISPs : restricted 2
Internet Telephony :Present Status (contd.) • ISPs permitted to provide Internet Telephony services through public Internet by use of Personal Computer (PC) or IP based Customer Premises Equipments (CPE) connecting the following : • PC to PC; within or outside India • PC / a device / Adapter conforming to standard of any international agencies like- ITU or IETF etc. in India to PSTN/PLMN abroad. • Any device / Adapter conforming to standards of International agencies like ITU, IETF etc. connected to ISP node with static IP address to similar device / Adapter; within or outside India.
Internet Telephony :Present Status (contd.) • Voice communication to and from a telephone connected to PSTN/PLMN and following E.164 numbering prohibited in India • Addressing scheme for Internet Telephony shall only conform to IP addressing Scheme of Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) exclusive of National Numbering Scheme / plan applicable to subscribers of Basic / Cellular Telephone service. Translation of E.164 number / private number to IP address allotted to any device and vice versa, by the licensee to show compliance with IANA numbering scheme is not permitted. 4
Internet Telephony :Present Status (contd.) • ISPs not permitted to establishing voice connection to any Public Switched Network in India • ISP nodes not permitted to use Dial up lines with outward dialing facility • No. of ISPs who are providing Internet Telephony – 32 (out of a total 164 operational ISPs) • Per minute tariff for an international call on average : Rs. 1.00 – 5.00 (in comparison to Rs. 5 – 15 by ILDOs)
VoIP: Growth in India 10/5/2014 6
VoIP- Regulatory Issues • Main VoIP specific regulatory issues are as follows: • Interconnection • Numbering • Emergency Number Dialing • Lawful Interception and Monitoring • Interoperability and Standardization • QoS
Interconnection • Charging mechanism • Interconnecting parties • Telecom service providers or content provider including web based software led service provider • New advanced services based on IP protocol may require interconnection rights • IP Interconnection Exchange • IP based Interconnection Exchange may be one of the solution for making interconnection smoother and transparent to operators . • Problem of seeker and provider can be overcome
Emergency number Calling • Accurate identification of geographical location of VoIP subscriber is limited by nomadic nature of IP based network • Routing emergency services call to appropriate geographically decentralized emergency service centers and provide them with appropriate location information • Internationally very few countries till now has mandated the emergency number calling • Information to customer regarding unavailability of emergency number calling is important before the user subscribes to the service.
Numbering • TDM voice service providers presently use E.164 numbering as stipulated by Numbering plan • VoIP subscriber may also require suitable address such as E.164 number specifically for receiving incoming calls from PSTN/PLMN networks • Whether dedicated, geographical/ non-geographical numbers • Other type of addressing such as IP address, SIP ID or URL are not user friendly and hence not in much of use. • End user devices required in such scenario are costly
Lawful Interception • Lawful interception and Monitoring is necessary for security and integrity of the state • Use of advance encoding & encryption techniques by service providers can pose challenge to Lawful Interception and Monitoring by security agencies • The encryption level user by service providers therefore may be restricted to a certain level • 40 bit encryption is presently being allowed to internet service providers in India. • If higher encryption is used then the relevant encryption key is to be made available to authority in advance.
Interoperability and Standardization • Interoperability and standardization is critical to retail telecom markets for avoiding any delay in the introduction of new services • Presently available customer premises devices are being provided by using standard international protocols only. • Ensuring interoperability between VoIP based network and legacy network is of prime importance to improve the quality of VoIP services • Interoperability may significantly help reduction in price of end user equipments. • However mandate on interoperability and standardization will add on the project implementation costs
Quality of Service • Present pattern of measuring and monitoring a defined set of QoS indicators established may not be applicable for VoIP services • Voice Quality in VoIP has improved due to advanced coding techniques and has considered to be equivalent to carrier grade voice quality • The need for survival of VoIP service provider in competitive telecom market will force them to offer the good Voice quality • Mandating QoS may impact on cost advantage due to VoIP carriage on unmanaged Internet environment as generally done by service providers • It may be required that service providers allow consumers to make informed choices based on information provided by service providers
Way Forward • International trends suggest VoIP will happen anyway • VoIP is good for consumers • Cost effective, nomadic and other features • Internet Telephony may become driver for bridging the digital divide. • Opening of VoIP may drive broadband take up • Extension of fruits of technology to users in cost effective and user friendly manner is need of hour • IP telephony will drive innovation • move from current distance/ time based tariffs to flat rate bundled tariffs 17