28 March 2011
MUSCAT: Making telephone calls using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) offered by overseas operators are illegal, but no individual caller has been prosecuted in the country as action has been confined to those retail agencies who facilitated calls and distributed telephone cards, said a highly placed official of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) yesterday.
The official was clarifying the position of the telecommunication regulator in response to journalists' queries.
"The VoIP services provided by those companies based outside Oman, like Skype, are not allowed. It is not a new position of TRA. This has been the case even earlier," Naashiah Said Al Kharusi, member of TRA, told journalists in a lengthy inter-active meeting.
As per the law, an individual offender who makes illegal VoIP call can be punished for not more than a year and a penalty of not more than RO5,000 or either of this. "So far, no individual offender has been prosecuted. Of course, if the law enforcement authorities catch you, this is the penalty," she said.
Citing reasons for not allowing companies like Skype to offer voice call service to Oman-based customers, she said the operator is using highly encrypted Internet application software, which is not exported to Oman. This software does not meet the requirements of legal interception in Oman since the server is located abroad, and the foreign companies enable the beneficiaries to access the basic voice service without having to be licensed in Oman and hence, evade payment of taxes and royalties.
Any service provider licensed in Oman to provide voice services to the public must pay royalty to the Omani government to meet the expenses it incurs in subsidising the universal services that are not economically feasible to provide.
Some of the royalties are also used to cover the costs of establishing an infrastructure to manage the requirements of the government services. These services also create more job opportunities for the young Omanis.
Mohsin Alawi Al Hafeedh, another TRA member, said the regulating agency has approved only one proposal for VoIP service from Omani telecommunication service providers. He said when a third operator enters the market, the tariff will come down in view of competition.
The provision of the voice service using any technology, including VoIP, must be undertaken by a service provider licensed in Oman to practice this activity since TRA is responsible for the regulation of the telecommunications services and not the technologies used as the telecom regulator is technology-neutral.
This service provider should comply with the provisions of the Telecommunications Regulatory Act and the licence conditions including the requirements of legal interception pursuant to Article 44 of the Act.
Naashiah said for allowing an overseas player to offer VoIP services in Oman, the company concerned has to accept certain conditions like posting a representative here, ensuring legal interception, approval from regulating authority for fixing tariff and royalty payment.
An overseas VoIP company did not agree to these conditions, saying that they are not service providers, rather providing ability for the user to make calls.
She said the rules and regulations for allowing VoIP operators are the same in Oman and several other countries like India, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China, Australia and European countries.
TRA had previously announced a proposal on the rules and regulations relating to the mechanism to provide voice service using VoIP. However, the civil society organisations that were expected to show interest did not submit any comments before these proposals were adopted.
TRA, therefore, called upon all civil society organisations to show more initiative in the future, especially when it publishes the results of these consultations and feedback and takes them into account before taking any decision.
MUSCAT: Making telephone calls using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) offered by overseas operators are illegal, but no individual caller has been prosecuted in the country as action has been confined to those retail agencies who facilitated calls and distributed telephone cards, said a highly placed official of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) yesterday.
The official was clarifying the position of the telecommunication regulator in response to journalists' queries.
"The VoIP services provided by those companies based outside Oman, like Skype, are not allowed. It is not a new position of TRA. This has been the case even earlier," Naashiah Said Al Kharusi, member of TRA, told journalists in a lengthy inter-active meeting.
As per the law, an individual offender who makes illegal VoIP call can be punished for not more than a year and a penalty of not more than RO5,000 or either of this. "So far, no individual offender has been prosecuted. Of course, if the law enforcement authorities catch you, this is the penalty," she said.
Citing reasons for not allowing companies like Skype to offer voice call service to Oman-based customers, she said the operator is using highly encrypted Internet application software, which is not exported to Oman. This software does not meet the requirements of legal interception in Oman since the server is located abroad, and the foreign companies enable the beneficiaries to access the basic voice service without having to be licensed in Oman and hence, evade payment of taxes and royalties.
Any service provider licensed in Oman to provide voice services to the public must pay royalty to the Omani government to meet the expenses it incurs in subsidising the universal services that are not economically feasible to provide.
Some of the royalties are also used to cover the costs of establishing an infrastructure to manage the requirements of the government services. These services also create more job opportunities for the young Omanis.
Mohsin Alawi Al Hafeedh, another TRA member, said the regulating agency has approved only one proposal for VoIP service from Omani telecommunication service providers. He said when a third operator enters the market, the tariff will come down in view of competition.
The provision of the voice service using any technology, including VoIP, must be undertaken by a service provider licensed in Oman to practice this activity since TRA is responsible for the regulation of the telecommunications services and not the technologies used as the telecom regulator is technology-neutral.
This service provider should comply with the provisions of the Telecommunications Regulatory Act and the licence conditions including the requirements of legal interception pursuant to Article 44 of the Act.
Naashiah said for allowing an overseas player to offer VoIP services in Oman, the company concerned has to accept certain conditions like posting a representative here, ensuring legal interception, approval from regulating authority for fixing tariff and royalty payment.
An overseas VoIP company did not agree to these conditions, saying that they are not service providers, rather providing ability for the user to make calls.
She said the rules and regulations for allowing VoIP operators are the same in Oman and several other countries like India, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, China, Australia and European countries.
TRA had previously announced a proposal on the rules and regulations relating to the mechanism to provide voice service using VoIP. However, the civil society organisations that were expected to show interest did not submit any comments before these proposals were adopted.
TRA, therefore, called upon all civil society organisations to show more initiative in the future, especially when it publishes the results of these consultations and feedback and takes them into account before taking any decision.
© Times of Oman 2011
