{"id":37590,"date":"2023-10-07T01:35:04","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T20:05:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=37590"},"modified":"2025-04-22T23:45:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T18:15:53","slug":"trai-and-ott-platforms-regulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/trai-and-ott-platforms-regulations\/","title":{"rendered":"TRAI and OTT Platforms Regulations"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in news?<\/li>\n<li>What is Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)?<\/li>\n<li>What is Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT)?<\/li>\n<li>News Summary: TRAI can\u2019t regulate OTT platforms<\/li>\n<li>In what context did TDSAT pass this order?<\/li>\n<li>Significance of this order<\/li>\n<li>Why is the IT Ministry disagreeing with DoT over OTT regulation?<\/li>\n<li>What is TRAI\u2019s attempt at regulating OTT services?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in news?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In a recent interim order, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has clarified that OTT platforms are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Instead, they fall under the governance of the Information Technology Rules, 2021, overseen by the IT Ministry.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The entry of private service providers brought with it the inevitable need for independent regulation.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was, thus, established by an Act of Parliament, called the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997.<\/li>\n<li>TRAI&#8217;s mission is to create and nurture conditions for growth of telecommunications in the country in a manner and at a pace which will enable India to play a leading role in emerging global information society.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Objectives \u2013<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>To regulate telecom services, including fixation\/revision of tariffs for telecom services which were earlier vested in the Central Government.<\/li>\n<li>One of the main objectives of TRAI is <strong>to provide a fair and transparent policy environment which promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>In pursuance of above objective TRAI has issued from time to time a large number of regulations, orders and directives to deal with issues coming before it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT)?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The TRAI Act was amended by an ordinance, establishing a Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to take over the adjudicatory and disputes functions from TRAI.<\/li>\n<li>TDSAT was set up to adjudicate any dispute \u2013\n<ul>\n<li>Between a licensor and a licensee,\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Between two or more service providers,\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Between a service provider and a group of consumers, and\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>To hear and dispose of appeals against any direction, decision or order of TRAI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>News Summary: TRAI can\u2019t regulate OTT platforms<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In an interim order, the TDSAT said that OTT platforms are outside the purview of the TRAI Act since they do not require any permission or a licence from the central government.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>In what context did TDSAT pass this order?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>TDSAT\u2019s findings came in a petition filed by the All India Digital Cable Federation.<\/li>\n<li>The federation alleged that free streaming of matches of the ICC Cricket World Cup on mobile devices by Star India through its platform Disney+Hotstar is discriminatory t the cable TV industry under TRAI regulations.\n<ul>\n<li>This is because, the matches can be watched on Star Sports TV channel only if the viewer has subscribed by making a monthly payment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The federation asked that:\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>Star India should be restrained from permitting viewers to have Star Sports on their mobile phones for free, or\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>they should also provide free access to Star Sports to AIDCF\u2019s members, that is cable operators.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Significance of this order<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>TDSAT\u2019s rejection of the plea has broader implications in the <strong>ongoing debate over the regulation of OTT services<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>At the heart of the matter is the clash between the TRAI and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) over who should oversee these platforms.\n<ul>\n<li>The had proposed a draft telecom Bill classifying OTT platforms as telecommunications services and seeking to regulate them like telecom operators.\n<ul>\n<li>DoT works under the Union Ministry of Communications.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>TRAI, on the other hand, issued a consultation paper on regulating OTT platforms.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>This difference in approach has led to a contentious disagreement between two key government bodies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why is the IT Ministry disagreeing with DoT over OTT regulation?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The IT Ministry believes that under the Allocation of Business Rules, Internet-based communications services are not part of DoT\u2019s jurisdiction.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>However, in this case, the conversation is centred around OTT communications services like WhatsApp.<\/li>\n<li>Time and again, MeitY made it clear that the DoT can only regulate the carriage layer, that is telephony, wireless communications, and private sector licences, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is TRAI\u2019s attempt at regulating OTT services?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Earlier TRAI had recommended against creating a specific regulatory framework for OTT communication services like WhatsApp, Zoom, and Google Meet.\n<ul>\n<li>In September 2020, TRAI had recommended against regulatory intervention for OTT platforms, saying that it should be left to market forces.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Now, it has revisited its stance, and started consultations on how these services can be regulated.<\/li>\n<li>In the consultation paper released in June 2023, the regulator asked stakeholders to send suggestions about regulating services.\n<ul>\n<li>It also asked whether a selective banning of OTT services could be done as opposed to entirely shutting down the Internet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Regulating such services has been a long-standing demand of telecom operators, who have been advocating for years for same service, same rules.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1) What is OTT?<\/h3>\n<p>OTT stands for &#8220;over the top&#8221;. It refers to any streaming service that delivers content through wireless internet. OTT bypasses traditional forms of media consumption, such as cable or set-top boxes.<\/p>\n<h3>Q2) What is Department of Telecommunications (DoT)?<\/h3>\n<p>The DoT is under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. It is headed by a secretary, who is a senior member of the Indian Administrative Services. The secretary of the DoT reports to the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-economics\/rbi-mpc-status-quo-rate-impact-8970844\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TRAI can\u2019t regulate OTT platforms like Hotstar, says tribunal. This is why it matters<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/dot.gov.in\/objectives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Department of Telecommunication<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OTT refers to any streaming service that delivers content through wireless internet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":37591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-37590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}