Airtel to charge for VoIP calls

Airtel will now be charging for voice calls made over its 2G or 3G network. This basically includes calls made using services such as Skype, Viber, and Google Hangouts, among others. The VoIP data will be charged separately and won't be part of our existing data pack.

More at Source: GSMArena

:banghead:

another reason to use MNP and port out from airtel

do you guys actually skype over 3g data plan?

a_k_s_h_a_y said:
do you guys actually skype over 3g data plan?

what if you have to?

How about just use VPN?

hari1 said:
How about just use VPN?

how about net neutrality? you're paying for Internet, you should get Internet.

hari1 said:
How about just use VPN?

ico said:
how about net neutrality? you're paying for Internet, you should get Internet.

Right. Agree with ico. Tomorrow they will come up with extra charge for messaging with Whatsapp, Hike, Skype etc. etc. then what? It's better to port from Airtel.

krishnandu.sarkar said:
Right. Agree with ico. Tomorrow they will come up with extra charge for messaging with Whatsapp, Hike, Skype etc. etc. then what? It's better to port from Airtel.

You are assuming other operators might not and that only Airtel will do so.
May be bsnl might not.

H

ico said:
how about net neutrality? you're paying for Internet, you should get Internet.

Exactly.... And i believe if Airtel has started it, others will also jump on the same boat.

they already started charging 1.8 p/sec for me

Vodafone is good, giving me offer for 3G worth 195 in 2g rate

amjath said:
Vodafone is good, giving me offer for 3G worth 195 in 2g rate

Which plan is that cause I don't have it on my Vodafone?

Again, AirTel is the first to smell a money-making opportunity and jump at the chance to screw its customers over. So, in essence, I'll have to pay for their absurdly priced Internet packs and pay again for making normal calls/send SMSs, and then once more if I decide to use a VoIP app. Just wait and watch, these thugs will soon start charging for using Whatsapp, Telegram and the like. Net neutrality can go f#ck itself, eh?

That is bullshit from Airtel. You are losing one more customer

P

For this kind of act they will only loose there customer & and they earn a negative feedback in the market for this type of acts. . Trai should protect the customer from these type of act.

vodafone and idea will follow suit.. A-Vo-Id , these three travels in the same boat..

P

rickenjus said:
vodafone and idea will follow suit.. A-Vo-Id , these three travels in the same boat..

Agree with you that's why Trai should intervene in it and protect the customer from these type of acts.

As on Airtel site given below show every plan is shown with 30 day validity. But as far as i know the information given for validity period is wrong. can any body confirm this?
3G Plans in India | 3G Tariff Plans for Prepaid and Postpaid | airtel

Register your protest:

Mailto: ravis@sansad.nic.in, mcitoffice@gov.in
CC: ap@trai.gov.in, secretary@trai.gov.in

To,

The Honorable Minister,
Department of Telecommunications.
Room No. 105, 1st Floor,
Sanchar Bhawan,
Ashok Road, New Delhi.
PIN- 110001

Subject: Gross Violation of Net Neutrality and Restrictive Business Malpractice by Airtel India.

Dear Sir,

It has come to our attention today that Airtel has decided to start charging for VOIP data traffic on all Subscribed Internet Plans. Now the rest of Telecom cartel members ( Vodafone & Idea) will follow & Rest of the Telecom companies. We have also a fear that if these companies are left like this without any action this type of rule could be forced on to Wired Broadband user.

Quoting it, from their terms and conditions page:

“All Internet/data packs or plans (through which customer can avail discounted rate) shall only be valid for Internet browsing and will exclude VoIP (Both incoming/ Outgoing). VoIP over data connectivity would be charged at standard data rates of 4p / 10 KB (3G service) and 10p / 10 KB (2G service). “

This is a gross violation of the principles of Net Neutrality. As the Internet is essentially seen as a utility, promoting such a misstep is only going to further impede the government’s vision of providing cheap and affordable Internet to all its citizens.

Being providers of utility services, an ISP should not be able to control or alter the terms of access to such services according to their whims and fantasies. This is going to set a dangerous precedent where ISP’s will have the ability to dictate the terms for all internet companies, unless they are paid first.

This is similar to how monopolies act, and the government should be more proactive in trying to discourage such business practices.

We would also like to bring to your notice that failing to prevent such malpractices will lead to further collusion and cartel-like behavior among the Indian ISPs.

We have already seen enough instances of such behavior, where some of these same ISP’s have colluded against the interests of the consumer and the exchequer. Therefore, we believe that it is time the government took notice of this issue.

India is a growing economy with a nascent Internet Industry. Failure to prevent the spread of such practices will further discourage Internet startups from working and/or coming to India, leading to fewer businesses and reduced employments in the future.

We ask for your help, in keeping the Internet open and available to all the citizens of India. We sincerely believe it is the most powerful medium of communication that humanity has ever created, and a failure to act today, might endanger this nascent tool from achieving its greatness.

A concerned Netizen.

Download the docx file here, if you are planning to Send it via Post : Mail the minister.docx - DocDroid

I made a nonprofit website for spreading awareness along with a hashtag to build viral awareness. It's having trouble getting off the ground, any help with tweets would be appreciated.

Let's get Airtel to notice.

paroh said:
Agree with you that's why Trai should intervene in it and protect the customer from these type of acts.

As on Airtel site given below show every plan is shown with 30 day validity. But as far as i know the information given for validity period is wrong. can any body confirm this?
3G Plans in India | 3G Tariff Plans for Prepaid and Postpaid | airtel

I'm on a 600 MB plan this month that offers a validity of 25 days; had 1GB that lasted for 25 days last month

PikachuTrAiNeR said:
I made a nonprofit website for spreading awareness along with a hashtag to build viral awareness. It's having trouble getting off the ground, any help with tweets would be appreciated.

Let's get Airtel to notice.

Put a tweet button or Facebook share on top which takes me directly downwards so that I can share it.

I tweeted btw.

lol?

Govt to look into Airtel's plan to charge for VoIP calls - Firstpost

Raj Kumar @ Firstpost said:
American companies create monopolies in IT services with huge venture capital money. You cannot compete with Skype, Watsapp and they are bandwidth hogging for Indian ISPs. They do not pay taxes either in India, Foreign countries for their foreign sourced income. They take Indian customer, charge them for services but do not pay Indian taxes.

Even in USA, Amazon does not pay state taxes. Google, Apple does not pay foreign taxes either in USA or in other countries they operate from.

I applaud Airtel in this and other Indian companies should follow through.This is the reason China, Russia have their own internet companies, so the government gets taxes either at the IT services side or from the ISP side.

In USA Net Neutrality got thrown out due to bribing (lobbying) by facebook, google and other. Net Neutrality is not the right solution, taxation laws of foreign countries need to be adhered.

In this case Airtel can cause the billion dollar companies Skype, Watsapp to pay or they can charge customers.

Example:

Say i run an electricity company for your home as a utility but then a specific company uses a big proportion of my electricity, I will want the electricity company (Google) to help me meet their growing need for electricity.

This can be done either be by charging customers or the company paying my electricity company.

Posting to subscribe. I would be involving in the protests too.

yes ! it's time boycott airtel ! :evil:

I got am MTS Wifi dongle and stopped using mobile internet a month ago. F**k Airtel, Vodafone.

M

No point for discussing here.If you really want to change this ****ing situation its time to act.Boycott using airtel give them what they deserve a long time ago. :punch:

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harshilsharma63 said:
I got am MTS Wifi dongle and stopped using mobile internet a month ago. F**k Airtel, Vodafone.

The problem is MTS doesn't work in odisha here only tata photon plus works but heard they are costly.

Alright.. Tweeted. We can't let Airtel do this.
[MENTION=12308]PikachuTrAiNeR[/MENTION]: Cool portal you made to boycott Airtel.

Register your protest : Net Neutrality in India
Retweet & Share on Fb.
Make everyone aware. Turn this in to a Internet movement. In future Nobody should f*ck with Net Neutrality In India.

swatkats said:
Register your protest : Net Neutrality in India
Retweet & Share on Fb.
Make everyone aware. Turn this in to a Internet movement. In future Nobody should f*ck with Net Neutrality In India.

Done

I'll make sure to post that AIirtel's facebook page multiple times daily.

swatkats said:
Register your protest : Net Neutrality in India
Retweet & Share on Fb.
Make everyone aware. Turn this in to a Internet movement. In future Nobody should f*ck with Net Neutrality In India.

done

a_k_s_h_a_y said:
You are assuming other operators might not and that only Airtel will do so.
May be bsnl might not.

Soon other operator will follow.

R

I think airtel is doing the right thing by charging extra for these service. Few years from now no one will recharge their phones for calls and messages, telecom companies will definitely sink with huge losses.
Simple solution will be to provide free internet and charge for other services.

Reloaded said:
I think airtel is doing the right thing by charging extra for these service. Few years from now no one will recharge their phones for calls and messages, telecom companies will definitely sink with huge losses.
Simple solution will be to provide free internet and charge for other services.

People are already using overpriced data packs (1 gb 2G data for 200 rs and 28 days validity, no thanks!!!

) which doesn't costs that much to the operator. They are making huge gains overall. SMS is already overpriced like fcuk. 1.5 Rs/sms and SMS packs being invalid on holidays and special days, WTF!!

K

Reloaded said:
I think airtel is doing the right thing by charging extra for these service. Few years from now no one will recharge their phones for calls and messages, telecom companies will definitely sink with huge losses.
Simple solution will be to provide free internet and charge for other services.

very true
they already overprice their data services by a huge margin

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im on postpaid 3G airtel myplan does this apply to all airtel data plans?

****

ZTR said:
Which plan is that cause I don't have it on my Vodafone?

RC195 discounted to ~RC127. Discount is user specific i guess. Try *121# and get discount offers

Instead of charging for VoIP, airtel can do right things like increasing their speed on their broadband plans and charge more or increase the price of 3G or 2G by increasing the data limit. People like more speed and more data, so they didn't think of the money

Days after it announced that its prepaid customers will no longer be able to access VOIP calls with regular data packs, Airtel on Friday announced new VoIP exclusive packs at Rs 75 for 100 MB data with a validity of 28 day.

“Our Customers can enjoy a superior VoIP calling experience on Airtel’s network by choosing from a range of new VoIP specific data packs that will soon be launched,” said a release, adding that the Rs 75 package will “allow customers to make between 200 and 250 minutes of calling”. It said affordable VoIP plans will also be launched for postpaid customers. “There would be no other charges in respective of VoIP calls,” it added.

- See more at: Airtel Brings New 100Mb VoIP Prepaid Pack

Airtel has gone nuts :brainiac:

people use VOIP coz it is free and you can use it with your normal pack but what is the point of paying an additional amount just for the purpose of doing VOIP.

Reloaded said:
I think airtel is doing the right thing by charging extra for these service. Few years from now no one will recharge their phones for calls and messages, telecom companies will definitely sink with huge losses.
Simple solution will be to provide free internet and charge for other services.

Are you freaking serious? Everything on the Internet is part of it. Steam, Multiplayer games, Streaming services, VOIP... everything. Charging extra for these things will set a bad precedent.

Ever heard the term 'net neutrality'?

Inceptionist said:
Are you freaking serious? Everything on the Internet is part of it. Steam, Multiplayer games, Streaming services, VOIP... everything. Charging extra for these things will set a bad precedent.

Ever heard the term 'net neutrality'?

but you can't really do anything about it. telecom operators are for maximum profit. don't give a sh1t about net neutrality. and politicians are better of getting money from telecom ops than getting your vote, i.e the vote of internet users, too less to bother.

a_k_s_h_a_y said:
but you can't really do anything about it. telecom operators are for maximum profit. don't give a sh1t about net neutrality. and politicians are better of getting money from telecom ops than getting your vote, i.e the vote of internet users, too less to bother.

At what point do their profit-making tactics become downright nasty and unethical? If this attempt to charge separately for VoIP services is allowed to bear fruit, who knows what they'll charge for next? Tomorrow some idiot might turn up and demand extra fees for emails, a separate plan for messaging services and so on. It's better to nip this in the bud, than to let it grow into a noose around our collective necks.

Kl@w-24 said:
At what point do their profit-making tactics become downright nasty and unethical? If this attempt to charge separately for VoIP services is allowed to bear fruit, who knows what they'll charge for next? Tomorrow some idiot might turn up and demand extra fees for emails, a separate plan for messaging services and so on. It's better to nip this in the bud, than to let it grow into a noose around our collective necks.

It only starts to matter when heavy weights like Google lobby. But in India I don't think that's going to happen. I don't see how this affects Infosys or TCS. Only then it will matter.

Politicians or Government : If you don't have money to win elections then GTFO.

Airtel: “Over the last twenty years, we have invested over Rs. 140, 000 crores in rolling out telecommunications services in every nook and corner of the country. In addition, we have paid over Rs. 50, 000 crore in terms of government levies in just 5 years. “

In just the last two and a half years, Airtel has earned Rs 141,545 crore in revenues, and Rs 16,211 crore in profit. Over 20 years, they’ve substantially made more money, which is great return on their investment. They’ve invested for the return they’ve gotten.

A response to Airtel’s justification of its net neutrality violation - MediaNama

K

Kl@w-24 said:
At what point do their profit-making tactics become downright nasty and unethical? If this attempt to charge separately for VoIP services is allowed to bear fruit, who knows what they'll charge for next? Tomorrow some idiot might turn up and demand extra fees for emails, a separate plan for messaging services and so on. It's better to nip this in the bud, than to let it grow into a noose around our collective necks.

exactly itll be a blackberry BIS plan situation all over again except the blackberry ones were unlimited and included everything except calls but for some people it was still a disadvantage

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does this only apply for prepaid users?

P

Airtel move to charge VoIP calls not illegal: TRAI chief Rahul Khullar | The Indian Express

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman, Rahul Khullar does not see any illegality in Bharti Airtel’s move to charge customers a higher rate for making voice calls from its network using apps like Skype, Viber etc than what it charges for surfing.

In an exclusive interview, Khullar, while agreeing that the move is against the principle of net neutrality, said that so far there is no policy or regulatory framework in the country which says that net neutrality should be maintained.

“Let’s be clear on this. What the company plans to do is certainly not in conformity with net neutrality. But one cannot say the move is illegal today as there is no policy either by the government that net neutrality is our principle or a regulatory framework put in place by the regulator,” Khullar said.

However, going ahead, the Trai will bring the over-the-top (OTT) players like Viber, Skype etc under some sort of regulations and is in the process of bringing out a consultation paper on the subject.

“If the telecom players fall under a set of rules, then should not the OTT players be also brought under some kind of rules? Otherwise there would be a non-level playing field,” he said.

Net neutrality means that a consumer has access to all forms of content in a similar manner and not in a way where a service provider slows or fastens the speed depending on whether the site has paid for it or not.

Pointing out the ways the OTT players could be brought under regulation, Khullar said that there could be licensing norms wherein they have to pay licence fee to the government on a revenue share basis. The other option, which is simpler is that a termination charge is put on calls originating from Skype-like services.

In the first scenario, the OTT players would be brought under a licensing regime similar to mobile operators where an entry fee would have to be paid followed by revenue share licence fee as a percentage of adjusted gross revenue. There are globally examples of such a practice, for instance in France. The moment this happens the services of OTT players would not come for free and a level-playing field would emerge.

However, in this scenario only the communication aspects should be brought under regulation and not the commerce side, he said. This means a service like Viber, Skype or Whatsapp, which are used for communication, would be regulated but commercial services like Facebook which are advertisement driven would be left out. This is how the European nations have tackled the issue.

In the second scenario, the principle of termination charge can be levied on the OTT players offering voice calls. “The good thing here would be that there would be no need for pricing the data packs differently for voice and data and since every operator has a smart network which can identify voice calls made over the net, he can bill the originating party a termination charge,” Khullar said.

Thing is in case these carriers turn tryant and start charging separately for social apps like fb and whatsapp ...what will we do? What can we do? A total blackout boycott will be required but then will everyone support this movement ,things need to get worst before they get better....I see trouble times ahead unless we are ready for the waves,for the net neutrality we shall stand together !

TRAI will also not look into this I guess. Airtel is making a lot of sense as far as legal area in concerned.

$hadow said:
TRAI will also not look into this I guess. Airtel is making a lot of sense as far as legal area in concerned.

This tax collection problem is a global problem and recently EU also announced that it will be making new laws to handle this. Maybe India will also come with similar laws?

G

Aache din aa gaye...
if this goes on then half the smartphones will be useless.

K

if they really wanted to make this charging for VOIP logical ,they should have made internet browsing free and charge for VOIP only ,that sounds better
here they will charge us for 3G plans and over that we are expected to pay even more for VOIP-completely illogical and goes against net neutrality

‪#‎airtel‬ drops plans to charge extra for internet voice calls via ‪#‎skype‬ ‪#‎viber‬

uckling under pressure, leading telecom player Bharti Airtel has dropped its plans to charge extra for internet voice calls or VoIP service available through apps like Skype and Viber.

“In view of the news reports that a consultation paper will be issued shortly by TRAI on issues relating to services offered by OTT (over the top content) players, including VoIP, we have decided not to implement our proposed launch of VoIP packs,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement on Monday.

The operator had earlier decided to charge VoIP calls on pay as you go basis, at standard data rates of 4 paise per 10 KB on 3G network and 10 paise per 10 KB on 2G network.

Besides, it had also announced special VoIP packs. “We have no doubt that as a result of the consultation process a balanced outcome would emerge that would not only protect the interests of all stakeholders and viability of this important sector but would also encourage much needed investments in spectrum and roll out of data networks to fulfil the objective of digital India,” Airtel said.

The government had earlier said it would look into the company’s plans to charge for such services, which have been free, while Airtel has been facing a huge public outcry on social media networks for past few days.

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*www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/airtel-will-not-charge-extra-for-internet-voice-calls-via-skype-viber/article6735030.ece?homepage=true

Bharti Airtel has issued a statement that it is withdrawing the launch of its VoIP packs, given that the TRAI has issued a statement that it will issue a consultation paper on issues relating to “services offered by OTT players including VOIP.” Airtel’s statement:

“We have no doubt that as a result of the consultation process a balanced outcome would emerge that would not only protect the interests of all stakeholders and viability of this important sector but would also encourage much needed investments in spectrum and roll out of data networks to fulfill the objective of digital India,” said the company.

Effectively, Airtel forced the TRAI’s hand: It instituted a pack that violated net neutrality, thereby, following the criticism and outrage, ensuring that the TRAI Chairman, Rahul Khullar announced a consultation process. Remember that Khullar said that Airtel’s action is not illegal, since there is no law preventing violation of Net Neutrality.

We’ve already questions TRAI’s predisposition, and a TRAI recommendation, post consultation, if it allows interconnection charges or differential pricing, will only legitimize Airtel’s actions. Then, Airtel could bring back the packs, and say that the law allows it.

So,

*i.imgur.com/3edHbSO.png

Well played.
Things to remember:

1. Airtel hasn’t withdrawn the VoIP packs because of consumer outrage. It’s withdrawn the pack because of the impending TRAI consultation.

2. As Airtel points out, the consultation will not just cover VoIP, but also other OTT services. As per a COAI paper, these services include Instant Messaging (IM), Applications (Apps), Cloud Services, Internet Television, IPTV, M2M – Machine to Machine (M2M) communications, Social Networking, apart from VoIP.

3. The TRAI, as we explained, appears predisposed towards a regulation of online services, and we’re not sure if we can expect a neutral consultation from the TRAI.

Source: Airtel withdraws VoIP charges for now, after forcing TRAI’s hand on net neutrality consultation - MediaNama

Airtel drops plans to charge extra for internet voice calls

Vyom said:
Airtel drops plans to charge extra for internet voice calls

just read what is posted above.

K

Fantastic!! if it had gone through,all the other operators would have followed soon

kkn13 said:
Fantastic!! if it had gone through,all the other operators would have followed soon

Read what [MENTION=148028]swatkats[/MENTION] posted.

K

ico said:
Read what [MENTION=148028]swatkats[/MENTION] posted.

im still a bit confused,are they implementing it or no finally? i hope not

kkn13 said:
im still a bit confused,are they implementing it or no finally? i hope not

They have Introduced charges on VoIP recently knowing there is no rule that restricts them doing So. Since TRAI chairman gave a statement after that That they would need to have consultation on this and several other issues through which Telecom operators are loosing Revenue, Airtel saw this as advantage. Now they want to Escape the criticism and Say What they are doing is completely Legal and Allowed.

TRAI's Chairman statement was like Whatever you want to do. Please do it according to Rules. Let's make One.

Stop Wondering now.

Plans are canceled. Boy I'm relieved.

K

swatkats said:
They have Introduced charges on VoIP recently knowing there is no rule that restricts them doing So. Since TRAI chairman gave a statement after that That they would need to have consultation on this and several other issues through which Telecom operators are loosing Revenue, Airtel saw this as advantage. Now they want to Escape the criticism and Say What they are doing is completely Legal and Allowed.

TRAI's Chairman statement was like Whatever you want to do. Please do it according to Rules. Let's make One.

Stop Wondering now.

ohh thanks for your explaination,got it now

this is the reason i have stopped using smartphones, now i only use a simple phone for calls, mobile internet is very costly and speed is horrible, also not having smartphone recently i have found a way to do lots of other things in life, more time

and yes i hate Vodafone, Airtel and whoever who try to screw customers

Airtel makes a U-turn: Will not charge extra for VoIP calls - Tech2

harshilsharma63 said:
This tax collection problem is a global problem and recently EU also announced that it will be making new laws to handle this. Maybe India will also come with similar laws?

When it comes to EU they make reforms soon and that too for helping the consumers but here I don't know how much time it is going to take hope TRAI get into it soon.

People who do not understand the 20 Questions of the TRAI consultation paper, You can just do a small thing:

Tweet this: Post a Tweet on Twitter & Post a Tweet on Twitter & Post a Tweet on Twitter (spare 1 min of your valuable time, Not a Spam Link!! )

Sign the Petition at change.org : *www.change.org/p/rsprasad-trai-don...e-how-they-want-to-use-internet-netneutrality