Trai today put forward a consultation paper seeking views from the industry and experts on issues like permitting the internet service providers (ISPs) to have interconnection with landline and mobile telephones to provide internet telephony within the country.
According to the existing licensing provisions, there is no restriction on international PC-to-PC calls through internet telephony. However, ISPs are not permitted to have interconnection with public switched telephone network (PSTN) or public land mobile network (PLMN) exchanges to provide internet telephony within India.
The prices of domestic and international long distance (ILD) calls are expected to come down if communication between a computer and a landline or mobile is allowed within the country. According to Trai, such a liberalisation would help boost competition, which in turn would catalyse the growth in the country.