If Netizens expect to reap in big benefits with the introduction of Net Telephony in India,
they may be sadly disappointed. Already
commercial interests are calling on the politicians to tweak the guidelines to
disable free voice chat facilities available in services such as Yahoo Messenger
or MSN messenger services. Even though these are "Members Only" services and
available only for Computer to Computer communication which requires an
investment of around Rs 50,000 each side, some ISP s seem to think that these
services would affect their IP telephony business which is Computer to Telephone
communication.
It is being suggested that such sites are blocked or the service
vendors requested to obtain ISP license.
It must be remembered that even though these services are
apparently offerred free, there is a hidden cost to the consumer since he is
parting with his personal data and allowing advertisement revenue to be earned
by the service provider.
More over, in the past, "VSNL" has expressed its inability to "Block "sites
either for preventing "Pornography" or "Sedition". If the ISP s are made to use
the "Blocking" provision for protecting a few thousand rupees of income of ISP s
it would be an anti-consumer move.
It would also be commercially, a short sighted move since the
availability of "Free Voice Chat" would encourage more Computer buys and better
computer literacy in the masses. Just as today more than 60 % of the Computers
are bought for connecting to Internet and using E-mail service, in the next few
years, "Free Voice Chat" would encourage many persons who have their kith
and kin abroad to buy Computers, Connect to Internet and become Internet savvy.
This would help in expanding the reach of
E-Governance initiatives and E-Commerce in India.
In fact for the sake of a few minutes of voice chat,
consumers are likely to take ISP accounts and use it for browsing, online gaming
and other purposes providing a more than adequate compensation for the ISP s to
recover whatever loss they may sustain through voice chats through Yahoo or MSN
messengers.
The correct posture for ISP is to take steps to introduce
their own Instant Messenger services and get a better brand exposure as well as
try to provide such services within India so that their Internet access business
grows.
Naavi
April 6, 2002
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