What’s the news: The Department of Telecom (DoT) has sought the views of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to develop a framework for regulating internet calling and messaging apps like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Google Meet, Business Line reported on August 31. Why does this matter: If new regulations are introduced, internet messaging and calling apps will be subject to the same or similar standards that traditional operators like Airtel and Jio are subject to, which is what the latter want, but this could harm innovation and competition in the internet telephony space. Further, these apps argue that they are already subject to the IT Act and IT Rules, and additional regulations will overburden them. “Same service same rules”: Telecom operators have been asking the government to apply the principle of ‘same service same rules’ by subjecting internet calling and messaging apps…
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