Indian telecom operators, including Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone-Idea, are urging the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to adopt the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) newly proposed definition of international traffic. This move could lead to a significant increase in annual SMS revenues for telecom companies, potentially exceeding ₹400 crore.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), representing the telecom giants, has sent a formal request to telecom secretary Neeraj Mittal. The letter advocates for integrating TRAI’s recent recommendations into existing unified license agreements and future authorizations. According to TRAI, international traffic should include SMS messages originating from or terminating in devices, servers, or applications located outside India. This definition aims to eliminate ambiguities that have long affected the sector.
The Dispute with MNCs
Telecom operators have been locked in a prolonged dispute with multinational companies like Amazon, Netflix, and Flipkart. Telcos allege that these entities use foreign servers for international transactions but route SMS messages through domestic systems to avoid paying higher international SMS fees. Domestic SMS rates range from 0.2 to 0.5 paisa, while international charges are significantly steeper, ranging from ₹2 to ₹5 depending on the sender’s country.
Impact of TRAI’s Recommendations
TRAI’s clarification categorizes any application-to-person (A2P) SMS that involves external devices or systems as international. This is particularly relevant for financial institutions, e-commerce platforms, cloud services, and OTT players, which often obscure the origin of their messages. Telcos argue that this clear definition will prevent the misclassification of international messages as domestic, ensuring fair revenue distribution and transparency in SMS charges.
By addressing this longstanding issue, the telecom sector hopes to bolster its revenue streams while promoting accountability among multinational corporations operating in India.
