Indian telecom service provider Bharti Airtel today said VoIP service is not a viable biz in the current format.
The clarification came in the wake of the recent wide spread criticism on charging consumers who use OTT services such as Whatsapp, etc. Several telecom industry players criticized Airtel for violating net neutrality by charging additional rates on VoIP calls.
Airtel is feeling the pressure because OTT players such as Facebook-owned Whatsapp, Skype, Viber, etc offer free voice calls over the internet.
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“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 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,” Airtel said.
Airtel’s new VoIP plans
For prepaid users, the VoIP exclusive pack will be priced at Rs 75 for 75MB with a validity of 28 days. This will allow customers to make between 200 and 250 minutes of calling. Similarly, affordable VoIP plans will soon be launched for postpaid customers. There would be no other charges in respective of VoIP calls.
The VoIP change will be implemented in a phased manner over the next few weeks.
Prepaid customers who have purchased data plans before 24 December 2014 are entitled to use all services opted-for till their packs are consumed or expire.
Airtel wants to protect its biz
Bharti Airtel, the telecom venture promoted by billionaire Sunil Mittal, said it invested over Rs 140,000 crore in rolling out telecommunications services in India the last twenty years. Airtel has already paid over Rs 50,000 crore in terms of government levies in 5 years.
OTT players do not pay anything to India government to run their messaging services.
“We are committed to making VoIP services extremely affordable and attractive by ensuring adequate minutes for a very small charge on VoIP,” Airtel said.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
