India's largest telecom player
Bharti Airtel has announced that it will charge for the VoIP calls made from
its network. VoIP calls made through Skype, Whatsapp, WeChat, Viber, Line, or any
such app will be billed separately and not from the customer's data pack.
The company has announced a VoIP
specific data plan for the prepaid users. This plan will cost the customers Rs
75 for 75MB data that will allow them to make 200 minutes of VoIP (voice over
Internet protocol) calls.
According to the press statement
issued by Airtel, the current VoIP model is not sustainable in the longer run
in its current form hence the company has decided to charge for the same.
“Our voice services that are enjoyed by every
one of our customers provide us the capacity to continuously invest in and
upgrade our networks on an ongoing basis. We, therefore, believe that VoIP
services in their current form are not tenable for us as a business. As a
result we will charge separately for VoIP services,” the statement says.
It should be noted that the
customers who have purchased their data plans before December 24 will be
allowed to use the VoIP services without being billed separately for the same.
And when their recharge cycle ends, they will be forced to buy the plan or will
have to pay according to the pay-as-you-go basis (4 paise per 10 KB).
On one hand the IB ministry has
assured the customers that it will look into the issue, and on the other, the
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman Rahul Khullar says the move
made by the telecom giant is not illegal. But he agrees that the move certainly
confronts the ‘net neutrality’, which calls for all data usages to be treated
equally.
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