Breaking: Airtel Drops Plan To Levy Charges On Internet Calls

After facing ire from its customers over the plans to levy charges, Airtel has said that it will not implement its “proposed” VoIP charges for services 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 today.

The move made by the company last week was seen as a breach of network neutrality following which Government decided to probe into Airtel’s decision. The company was criticized on the grounds that all the data should be treated equally so that every user and service has equal access to the network.

The news surfaced online with headings like, “Airtel threatens India’s Digital India Dream” and “Breach Of Net Neutrality By Airtel”.

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.

Airtel added, “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”.