Alas It finally happened, India is now officially joining the NoVOIP club formed by their asian counterparts Bangladesh, UAE, Oman etc. This really took me by surprise that Indian government, in fact the DoT (Department of Telecom) has finally decided to cut down on all foreign VOIP operators providing services in India. The impact will be huge. This move is directly going to affect people like you, me, companies such as BPO's, call centers etc.
Although, Indian government has given reasons such as, Foreign operators do not come under any regulations, so it's difficult to monitor activities done through them. Indian government perhaps think VOIP users in India are not mature enough to think that it's not about regulations but more about ensuring the benefits of local telecom operators and ISPs who are loosing money. Money which needs no brainer. Slowly, Indian telcos will offer you dream VOIP services at Rs.1 per call etc and later bundle it around other applications. Finally, the customers end up paying much higher than they ever thought.
In India, VOIP is a big money game. Everyday millions of $$$ are at stake. I wouldn't be surprised if Reliance, Essar and Bharati will push the government to a level that they will outright ban foreign operators. Banning a VOIP service isn't a solution but traditionally India has never thought of a good solution, since most of the decisions are influenced.
This move will greatly impact a home VOIP user. It means no more Skype Calls, I wonder if ISP's will be asked to ban Skype. In other words, they will be making you handicapped and leaving you with only one choice, Use Reliance and other mobile services. Furthermore, it's also going to affect BPO, KPO and call centers in India, since they can no longer buy minutes and dedicated services from foreign operators. Does that mean, they will pay 10 times what they are paying? isn't that sick?
What India should have done isntead of a outright ban?
1) Detail out a good plan for VOIP regulation
2) Ask each foreign operator to abide by the regulations. Of course, regulations should be realistic.
3) Charge foreign operators with a standard Levy or service charge.
4) All foreign operators are subject to provide informations about any calls for monitoring purposes.
This way India could have achieved what others are moving to. India is on a path of destruction and they will have to pay a huge fee for this stupid move in the long run.
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