IAMAI made a submission in response to TRAI's consultation paper on "Regulatory Mechanisms for Over-The-Top (OTT) Communication Services, and Selective Banning of OTT Services." In its submission, IAMAI raised concerns regarding the consultation paper seeking suggestions on a "collaborative framework" between 'OTT communication service providers' and 'licensed telecommunication service providers', as it appeared to be in sync with the demand of certain industry associations for the introduction of a revenue-sharing mechanism between OTTs and telecom service providers (TSPs).

IAMAI contended that such demands were based on the erroneous notion that OTT service providers consumed bandwidth and disregarded the fact that not OTT players but consumers themselves independently transacted and purchased data from TSPs. Prima facie, the 'collaborative frameworks' proposed in the consultation paper might lead to a violation of the net neutrality framework. Regarding imposing additional regulations upon OTT service providers, IAMAI pointed to the already existing robust regulatory frameworks for such services in India and stated that therefore there was no need to bring OTT service providers under any additional licensing/regulatory frameworks. As per IAMAI, attempts to bring OTT service providers under regulations typically reserved for telecom companies fail to recognise that telecom service providers (TSPs) are subject to a special regulatory and licensing regime as they control valuable national resources such as spectrum. Therefore, the introduction of a telecom regulatory regime for OTT service providers would be an act of over-regulation.

IAMAI also submitted counter comments in response to some of the points raised in representations made by certain other organisations to TRAI on its consultation paper "Regulatory Mechanism for Over-The-Top (OTT) Communication Services, and Selective Banning of OTT Services". In its counter comments, IAMAI flagged demands made by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). The COAI had called for regulatory intervention to ensure "largest traffic originators" pay a 'fair share charge' to telecom companies to account for capital investments made by the latter to "accommodate surging data traffic". Similarly, ICRIER called for the imposition of a 'Broadband Infrastructure Levy' to be applied at 3% of India operations of "significant" OTT service providers based on "specialized contracts" between service providers and network operators. In response, IAMAI contended that by requiring "largest" OTT service providers to pay TSPs for data used by consumers, TSPs would effectively be charging twice for the same service - as they already charge consumers for data. In any case, "surging data traffic" is merely data consumed by consumers that they have already purchased from telecom companies. Therefore, the "strain" on infrastructure of TSPs occurs when they sell data to consumers beyond their infrastructural capacity – a fact that had been conveniently ignored.

The Digital Advertising Committee of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) organised the 10th Marketing Masters' Meet, from September 8 to 11, 2023, in Phuket. Twenty-four marketing leaders, CMOs, and industry aficionados participated in the off-site. They gained insights from leading experts, explored cutting-edge marketing strategies, and forged connections with an elite network of professionals. The event covered a wide range of topics, from deep dives into digital marketing to mastering the art of branding and enhancing customer experiences.

Attendees left equipped with invaluable knowledge and tools to elevate their brands to new heights. The brands which were represented at the Meet were: Ace Turtle; Adani Group; Apollo; Bajaj Allianz General Insurance; Crowdstrike; cure.fit (cult.fit); Freo; HDFC Bank; Home Credit India; Housing.com & Makaan; Junglee Games; Kotak Mahindra Bank; Niva Bupa Health Insurance; Phool; Physics Wallah; Raymond Limited; Reliance Jio Mart; Reliance Retail; RupeeRedee; Tata CLiQ; Unity Small Finance Bank; Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting; Wow Skin Science, and Yubi.

Participants of the 10th Marketing Masters’ Meet in Phuket

The Digital Advertising Committee of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), in collaboration with MessageBird, organised two roundtables conference on "Email Alchemy: Transforming Deliverability into Gold" in September. The first one was held on September 5, 2023, in Mumbai, and the second one on September 21, 2023. Speaking at the conferences ecosystem experts pointed out that marketing conversations need not be overly complex, and in fact, simplicity could often be its greatest strength. It was highlighted that email marketing stood as a prime example of this simplicity-principle, serving as a masterful tool in the arsenal of a big brand's successful marketing strategy. By delivering targeted messages directly to an engaged audience's inbox, email marketing could establish meaningful connections, build brand loyalty, and drive tangible results with remarkable efficiency and effectiveness, the experts said.

Among those who addressed the Mumbai roundtable were Argho Bhattacharya, PayU Payments; Deepak Oram, HDFC Bank; Deepak Srivastava, StarQuik; Farshid Master, DreamSetGo; Pradeep Kumar D Gohil, World Micro Stock Exchange; Priya Nadkarni, Tata Capital; Shonali Shetty, Godrej Capital; Siddhesh Kerkar, Aditya Birla; Srikrishna Moorthy, Kotak Mahindra Bank; Subhash Dawda, RazorPay; Trupti David, Equity Masters; Vinay Bhartia, MessageBird, and Vrinda Aggarwal, Joint Ventures.

Among the key speakers at the Bengaluru conference were Aditya Gupta, Rupeek; Devashish Gupta, Jodo; Hitarth Saini, FREO; Ishan Bose, KreditBee; Rajesh Durai, UpGrad; Sankarsh, Infosys; Shiv Kumar Pandey, Alp Consulting; Sooraj Balakrishnan, Acer; Senthamil Selvan, Altroz Consulting; Titus Thomas, WebEngage; Vargab Bakshi, Wix; Vaibhav Mehrotra, Cashfree Payments, and Vinay Bhartia, MessageBird.

Participants at the Mumbai Roundtable on 'Email Alchemy: Transforming Deliverability into Gold'

Participants at the Bengaluru Roundtable on 'Email Alchemy: Transforming Deliverability into Gold'