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WITH Trai recommending that calls from PCs to phones be allowed in the country, internet service providers (ISPs) expect a new revenue stream to open up by offering cheaper STD calls and even free local calls BPO companies, which could be big users of such serv ices, say it could lower costs for them but quality of serv ices and security need to be ensured first. Telecom oper ators have cried foul, saying ISPs would benefit without incurring cost.

The Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) said that the recommendations, implemented, would allow consumers to make calls at a fraction of current costs “This could drive the growth of broadband in the country. Also, rural markets, where long distance tariffs still remain unafford able, could benefit greatly,” said ISPAI president Rajesh Chharia.

“India is behind its neighbours Bangladesh and Pakistan that al ready allow unrestricted internet telephony The Trai move will greatly benefit SOHO users, consumers and enterprises,” said Net India CEO Jasjit Sawhney. ISPs also said that consumers would have greater op tions while calling within the country, with internet telephony being opened up.

“This will create a segregation of class of service which will help consumers select their service based on business or personal requirements, said Orange Business Services CEO Sanjay Vig. Network firms that own a national long distance (NLD) licence like Orange Business Services and Tulip Telecom stand to gain by offering their networks to carry Net telephony traffic over their network.

“If NLD operators are allowed to connect to ISPs through public internet, many domestic NLD operators possessing an optical-fibre network across the country, will have new revenue stream,” Mr Vig of Orange said. But some industry players also pointed out chal lenges to Net telephony taking off in the country “Trai’s recommendations could revolutionise voice connectivity in the country but quality and conven ience would be important factors. People switched to mobile phones from landlines because of convenience and not many people would like to keep multiple phones,” Tulip Telecom CMD HS Bedi. The IT-BPO industry association Nasscom welcomed the move.

“Once approved, this move will effectively remove the last barrier to internet telephony, and act as natural corollary. It will benefit the BPO industry to large extent,” a Nasscom statement said. However, some BPO players expressed concern about the current quality of services and security is sues. “ For BPOs, there would be issues such as quality and security. However, we have seen that as more and more services are offered on the Internet, service providers are forced to improve,” BPO firm Firstsource Solutions CTO Sanjiv Dalal said.