Transcript Development challenge : Can NGN enhance Access & Use

Internet Telephony in India
Status & Issues
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V K Agarwal
Dy. Advisor(Converged Networks)
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
Internet Telephony :Present Status
1st April 2002 - Internet telephony opened in India

Only then existing ISPs were allowed to provide
Internet telephony
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Presently following are permitted, to provide Internet
Telephony service.
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CMSPs : unrestricted (yet to be started)
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UASPs : unrestricted (yet to be started)
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BSOs
: unrestricted (yet to be started)
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ISPs
: restricted
7/20/2015
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Internet Telephony :Present Status
7/20/2015
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(contd.)
ISPs permitted to provide Internet Telephony services
through public Internet by use of Personal Computer
(PC) or IP based Customer Premises Equipments
(CPE) connecting the following :
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PC to PC; within or outside India
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PC / a device / Adapter conforming to standard of any
international agencies like- ITU or IETF etc. in India to
PSTN/PLMN abroad.

Any device / Adapter conforming to standards of
International agencies like ITU, IETF etc. connected to
ISP node with static IP address to similar device /
Adapter; within or outside India.
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Internet Telephony :Present Status
(contd.)
Voice communication to and from a telephone connected
to PSTN/PLMN and following E.164 numbering prohibited
in India

Addressing scheme for Internet Telephony shall only
conform to IP addressing Scheme of Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority (IANA) exclusive of National
Numbering Scheme / plan applicable to subscribers of
Basic / Cellular Telephone service. Translation of E.164
number / private number to IP address allotted to any
device and vice versa, by the licensee to show compliance
with IANA numbering scheme is not permitted.
7/20/2015
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Internet Telephony :Present Status

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(contd.)
ISPs not permitted to establishing voice connection
to any Public Switched Network in India
ISP nodes not permitted to use Dial up lines with
outward dialing facility
No. of ISPs who are providing Internet Telephony –
32 (out of a total 164 operational ISPs)
Per minute tariff for an international call on average :
Rs. 1.00 – 5.00 (in comparison to Rs. 5 – 15 by
ILDOs)
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VoIP: Growth in India
Internet Telephony Minutes
( in millions)
131.63
122.96
120
7/20/2015
140
115.04
102.25
100
80
66.37
60
41.52
40
27.15
20
6
0
Mar-04
Mar-05
Mar-06
Mar-07
Mar-08
Mar-09
Mar-10
VOIP- REGULATORY ISSUES
7/20/2015
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Main VoIP specific regulatory issues are as
follows:
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Interconnection
Numbering
Emergency Number Dialing
Lawful Interception and Monitoring
Interoperability and Standardization
QoS
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INTERCONNECTION
7/20/2015
Charging mechanism
 Interconnecting parties
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Telecom service providers or content provider
including web based software led service provider
New advanced services based on IP protocol may
require interconnection rights
IP Interconnection Exchange

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IP based Interconnection Exchange may be one of
the solution for making interconnection smoother and
transparent to operators .
Problem of seeker and provider can be overcome
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INTERCONNECTION
UPCOMING SCENARIO
EMERGENCY NUMBER CALLING
Accurate identification of geographical location of VoIP
7/20/2015
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subscriber is limited by nomadic nature of IP based network
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Routing
emergency
services
call
to
appropriate
geographically decentralized emergency service centers and
provide them with appropriate location information
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Internationally very few countries till now has mandated the
emergency number calling

Information
to
customer
regarding
unavailability
of
emergency number calling is important before the user
subscribes to the service.
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NUMBERING
TDM voice service providers presently use E.164 numbering
7/20/2015
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as stipulated by Numbering plan
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VoIP subscriber may also require suitable address such as
E.164 number specifically for receiving incoming calls from
PSTN/PLMN networks
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Whether dedicated, geographical/ non-geographical numbers
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Other type of addressing such as IP address, SIP ID or URL
are not user friendly and hence not in much of use.
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End user devices required in such scenario are costly
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LAWFUL INTERCEPTION
Lawful interception and Monitoring is necessary for security
and integrity of the state
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Use of advance encoding & encryption techniques by service
7/20/2015
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providers can pose challenge to Lawful Interception and
Monitoring by security agencies
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The encryption level user by service providers therefore may
be restricted to a certain level
40 bit encryption is presently being allowed to internet service
providers in India.
If higher encryption is used then the relevant encryption key is
to be made available to authority in advance.
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INTEROPERABILITY AND STANDARDIZATION
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Interoperability and standardization is critical to retail telecom
markets for avoiding any delay in the introduction of new
services
Presently available customer premises devices are being
provided by using standard international protocols only.
Ensuring interoperability between VoIP based network and
legacy network is of prime importance to improve the quality
of VoIP services
Interoperability may significantly help reduction in price of end
user equipments.
However mandate on interoperability and standardization will
add on the project implementation costs
7/20/2015
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QUALITY OF SERVICE
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Present pattern of measuring and monitoring a defined set of
QoS indicators established may not be applicable for VoIP
services
Voice Quality in VoIP has improved due to advanced coding
techniques and has considered to be equivalent to carrier grade
voice quality
The need for survival of VoIP service provider in competitive
telecom market will force them to offer the good Voice quality
Mandating QoS may impact on cost advantage due to VoIP
carriage on unmanaged Internet environment as generally done
by service providers
It may be required that service providers allow consumers to
make informed choices based on information provided by
service providers
7/20/2015
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Internet Telephony :TRAI’s Recommendations
7/20/2015
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7/20/2015
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Way Forward
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International trends suggest VoIP will happen anyway
VoIP is good for consumers
•
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7/20/2015
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Cost effective, nomadic and other features
Internet Telephony may become driver for bridging the
digital divide.
Opening of VoIP may drive broadband take up
Extension of fruits of technology to users in cost effective
and user friendly manner is need of hour
IP telephony will drive innovation

move from current distance/ time based tariffs to flat rate
bundled tariffs
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