Status of VoIP regulation in India

VoIP and its introduction is an eagerly anticipated event in the Industry. My Take in response to a linked in question...
http://www.linkedin.com/answers?viewQuestion=&questionID=327771&askerID=4765290&browseIdx=0&sik=&report%2Esuccess=vfLh7ZiQxNtkwQoO3efsNN1zAgQ8WXmCT24lKBBmlHq_pfcN7JydQUoVP_zdv4b8


While TRAI's recomndations have been tabled at the DoT, it would be difficult to provide any fixed time frame. For sure, there is some amount of lobbying from the Telecom Operators who see VoIP as a threat to already wafer thin profits. DoT is also under no hurry to displease this Cartel. To answer your question, you can expect to see some action on VoIP after the auction of 3G services (expected end of this year). Two things more that you must also factor in: Given High 3G Licensing fees in face of uncertain cash flows, the operators are not too keen on betting big money in 3G. The other thing is about Number Portability which would reduce the stickiness of the customers to these telecom operators. In the face of these two variables, which impact profitability of the operators, 3G licensing is still in some zone of uncertainity.3G Licensing would directly impact VoIP! Hence there are quite a few variables influencing VoIP introduction in India.