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Free chat sites queer the pitch for ISPs

Bipin Chandran & Anjan Mitra

Another round of wrangle is likely to open up in the Internet telephony services sector as both the government and Internet service providers are of the view that the voice chat services offered by Web sites such as msn.co.in, yahoo.co.in and services offered by Dialpad and PC2phone are illegal as these companies do not have an ISP license to operate in India.

From April 1, the government had legalised transmission of voice over Internet. But the services were to be offered by ISPs only and again those ISPs which had the permission to offer Net telephony.

"We are looking into the issue of various Web sites offering voice chat facility. We will take a stand once things become clearer," a senior government official said.

Sources said that Web sites offering voice chat service may be given the option to either obtain an ISP license and offer these services on their own or offer their services through an ISP which already has a Net telephony license.

Both the ISPs and the Web sites offering voice chat services have not finalised their strategy as yet.

Shriram Adukoorie, director, MSN India, said: "We are formulating a strategy to effectively leverage this opportunity. Since only ISPs can provide this service currently, as a technology provider we are looking at best facilitating this process."

Deepak Chandani, country head Yahoo India, refused to comment on the issue. "We have thus far not been contacted by the government on this matter. Only when we get to understand the full details can we respond to your queries on the subject," he said.

The ISPs are also observing the situation closely. "If these sites are offering voice chat services without a license, it is illegal. We will wait for a government directive to act on the issue," said Uday Sodi, COO, Net4India.

What is the remedy? The government issues a diktat and cracks down on errant Web sites or the ISPs block these Web sites like in the past when VSNL used to block access to some Web sites in the past.

The second option may be tricky. Pointing out that it will be difficult for ISPs to block sites such as msn and yahoo from Indian users accessing them, Saurav Adhikary, president HCL Infinet said, "It is not possible to block all the sites that offer voice chat facility. We expect that these Web sites will team up with ISPs to offer their services or obtain an ISP license."

The Internet Service Providers Association is of the opinion that these Web sites should be asked to obtain ISP licenses. The association members had also met government officials to appraise them of the situation.

"As it is, the ISP business is not in good health and the way the government has allowed Internet telephony does not make it really a very viable business option. In such a situation, if these sites take away business from the ISPs, the condition is going to be tough for the ISPs," said Amitabh Singhal, director general of ISPAI.

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