Bharti Airtel's CEO Urges Government to Regulate OTT Apps for Fairness and Net Neutrality

Bharti Airtel's Managing Director and CEO, Gopal Vittal, has expressed the company's primary request from the government – to regulate over-the-top (OTT) apps similar to how telecom operators are regulated. The focus is not on obtaining revenue share or payments from OTTs for bandwidth usage. This statement is significant in light of the ongoing dispute between the Cellular Operators Association of India and technology companies, where telcos argue that OTT apps should pay revenue share to cover network costs. However, OTT apps and startups argue that consumers use the data, and charging OTTs would violate net neutrality principles.

Vittal emphasized that net neutrality is unrelated to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's consultation on regulating OTT communication apps. Airtel's CEO called for subjecting everyone to the same rules and ensuring that regulations keep pace with evolving technologies.

During the analyst call, Vittal also highlighted issues related to phishing, spam, and fraud, with telcos being penalized while there is no regulation when such issues occur through messaging apps. He pointed out the lack of regulations for linear content delivery via OTTs compared to DTH and cable TV, which face price regulations and restrictions.

Regarding 5G, Vittal mentioned the challenge of limited use cases beyond speed and the need for applications that fully utilize 5G technology. He emphasized that current 5G investments are driven by perception, and monetization is limited.

Airtel's capex declined in the July-September quarter due to monsoons and deployment challenges. The company plans to extend 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) services across India by the year-end and launch outdoor FWA devices in the coming months.

Vittal acknowledged the need for tariff hikes to make the industry viable but did not specify when Airtel would raise headline tariffs. He expects 2G users to migrate to smartphones in the next 3-5 years.

In the upcoming spectrum auction, Airtel is likely to spend minimally as it already has sufficient spectrum, and it will only purchase frequency in circles where its license is expiring.