Indian Telecom companies are against the idea of any more regulations or guidelines in value added services (VAS) segment. Companies feel that informing the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regarding starting a VAS and availability of logical Information Machine (LIM) is sufficient. VAS accounts for nearly 10% of the industry’s revenue and companies fear that any more guidelines may pose unnecessary delays in providing VAS.
Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) believes that the current rules and regulations in this regard are sufficient and there is no need for any further guidelines. However, VAS operators have different ideas on the matter.
They believe telecoms should be mandatorily required to share the data on usage and downloads etc. Content providers’ representative body, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), also wants regulations towards more transparency in availability of short codes and access and interconnect norms.
TRAI is soon expected to decide regarding whether it wants to bring in more regulations in VAS segment or not.
