Grey market telephony: PTA issues policy guidelines to ISPs
The PTA is pretending that VoIP is illegal (it isn't, though some applications are for most people) and that ISPs are a bunch of bureaucrats with nothing better to do than to give the PTA a lot of reports every month....

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KARACHI (September 15 2005): Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued policy guidelines for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to handle the issues of grey market telephony and security concerns.

According to documents made available here, some unscrupulous elements were indulging in illegal commercial activities of establishing exchanges for terminating international calls in the local networks of the licensed operators.

The media used for this illegal activity is mostly unlicensed Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), hence there was an urgent need to eliminate the menace of such illegal activities of "grey market telephony".

The document further said that to address the issues of "grey market telephony" and "security concerns", the Federal government under Section 23 and 31, and Sub-section (1) and (2) of Section 54 of Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganisation) Act 1996, issued the following guidelines for its strict compliance with immediate effect:

-- Licensed operator will be responsible for the correctness of the antecedents of their clients.

-- Every licensed operator will keep and maintain valid, updated record of its clients and users having dedicated bandwidth. The database should contain following information regarding assigned Public Static Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, which includes name, company name, NIC and NTN number for the purpose of bandwidth.

-- Every licensed operator will intimate the PTA on monthly basis about allocation of Public Static IP addresses to any client.

-- All licensed operators will submit a summary of users (having bandwidth equal to or in excess of 128 kbps), and who fall under the following criteria:

-- All those clients using bandwidth in symmetric format meaning thereby that difference between their incoming and outgoing traffic is minimal.

-- The ISPs will also oversee their client's bandwidth usage and will ensure that it is not being used to transport voice.

-- All ISPs will evolve their Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)/ measures and implement these to make sure that they do not allow the VoIP, illegal international call terminations and other such unauthorised activities.

Sources in the ISPs circle said no service providers had violated any law or abated in activation/termination of any call regarding such matter.

The licensees have been made responsible for the correctness of the statement of the third party, failing which the authority will take action under the Evidence Act or Penal Code against the licensees.

The licensees have been asked to submit monthly summary of users having more than 128 Kbps bandwidth containing information such as symmetric user of bandwidth and oversee the client's bandwidth usage and will ensure that voice is not transported.

The source said: "It appears that there is a total lack of knowledge on the part of the PTA about the Internet usage. For instance, use of "White Board" application in Microsoft NetMeeting, Interactive Games, Yahoo, MSN and Google Voice or Text Chat will all create Symmetric Bandwidth usage. The Internet is used for purposes other than Web browsing and e-mails."

The sources stated that network service provider means an intermediary and a PTA's licensee does not posses power of police to enforce its wishes on its clients or force a prospective customer to tell the "truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth".

By issuing numerous LDI licences with very little rollout, the authority has provided ample opportunity for call-activation and termination in the market and no sane person needs to use the DSL or any other means to carry the VoIP.

The sources said that no call-activation or termination in this country was possible without the will of incumbent (PTCL) as yet. What is needed is to put a strong security measure at the incumbent's network and on the gateways of the LDIs to monitor all aspects of the traffic without hassle.

It could be safely argued that the "VoIP" is an "invention" and needs to be recognised and taken into account, if the grey, red or blue traffic was to be stopped.

The solution lay not with the policing but a determined policy, needed to fully regularise the VoIP, with or without levies and taxes, the sources said.


Copyright Business Recorder, 2005
- posted @ Thursday, September 15, 2005