No registration, no services to BPOs: DoT

New Delhi, Mar 2 (UNI) In a bid to clamp down on 'illegal' use of Internet Telephony, Department of Telecom (DoT) has directed internet service providers (ISPs) to stop providing service to all call centres and business process outsourcings (BPOs) not registered with the Department.

While the Telephone Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has not yet completed the consultative process on review of internet services, the DoT has sought to pre-empt TRAI's recommendations by sending out this directive.

The Business Process Industry Association of India (BPIAI), which is an affiliated association of CII, has strongly opposed this decision and has sought a rational way out.

This move will directly affect an estimated 2,000 smaller call centres across the country, and may force their closure putting about 50,000 people out of job, mostly in smaller towns.

BPIAI expects that all services riding on the internet, including voice, should be made completely open and free of any licensing, and hopes that its views will be considered by TRAI in its final recommendation.

''BPIAI would be happy to work with DoT by acting as a single window for all call centres as a nodal agency for collection and initial scrutiny of registration applications, before filing with DoT by BPIAI. This approach will make the registration process far more efficient,'' BPIAI President Sam Chopra said.

The Association has proposed that all unregistered call centres running voice operations, be allowed up to 90 days for filing registration applications with the telecom department.

The DoT, in turn, must accept or reject registrations within a time-bound period of 30 days.

In the interim period status quo should be maintained, with these call centres being allowed to carry on their business as usual.

In the globally competitive outsourcing industry indian call centers/BPOs must have free access to the most cost effective technologies, solutions and services from providers in India and overseas, Mr Chopra said.

''With the restrictive practices being implemented by DoT, our industry will lose out to other emerging outsourcing locations such as Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, the Philippines and Eastern Europe,'' he added.

The BPIAI (formerly Call Centre Association of India) comprising stakeholders of the business process industry provides a network for its members to jointly address the challenges facing the industry and to explore the 20-billion-dollar export opportunity by promoting India as the preferred BPO/call center destination.

It builds the Indian brand equity for call centre and back office operations and takes up policy and infrastructure related issues with the Government.

UNI