The COAI or the Cellular Operators Association of India has accepted Facebook as one of its associate members at a time when there’s some amount of ongoing friction between the two. That’s because, a number of main members of the Indian body are currently lobbying with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in order to regulate apps like Facebook.
Utilities like the said social networking application and others are counted among over-the-top (OTT) service providers. Now, telecom operators of India are disturbed by the fact that such companies are making lots of money by indirectly using their networks and are miffed about the fact that they are not getting any share from it.
The argument Facebook has is that internet access should be free for all, as the California-based company supports ‘net neutrality,’ a debate that’s gaining a lot of coverage in the US currently. It’s hence somewhat a surprise that the social networking giant has joined a body whose main members include telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea.
A company like Facebook joining the COAI is not something new, as telecom equipment manufacturers as well as other communication services are indeed represented by the Indian association. Ankhi Das, the public policy director in India and South Asia for the social network asserted that becoming an associate member of the COAI affirms the company’s focus on mobile technologies and its desire to collaborate with the industry to increase connectivity.
As revealed by The Economic Times, Facebook currently has over 100 million monthly active users in India out of its 1.32 billion monthly active users from all over the world.
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