Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has informed that The Department of Telecommunication (DoT), Ministry of Communications has eased the guidelines for Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) and IT enabled Service (ITeS) players by issuing the new guidelines for Other Service Providers (OSPs) on 05.11.2020 and revised guidelines for OSPs on 23.06.2021.
Some of the key changes to simplify the OSP guidelines are as under:
(i) Requirement of registration of OSP centers removed.
(ii) Requirement of submission of Bank Guarantees removed.
(iii) Submission of Annual reports/ Periodic compliances not required.
(iv) Work From Anywhere (WFA) within India allowed.
(v) Sharing of Internet by OSP centers from centralized location allowed.
(vi) Interconnectivity between OSP centers of different OSP companies allowed.
(vii) Distinction between Domestic and International OSPs removed.
(viii) No restriction for data interconnectivity between any OSP centers.
These changes have reduced the compliance burden for the BPO/ITeS companies in the country and facilitating ease of doing business.
As per Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the revised guidelines for OSPs is based on self regulation by the OSPs and ensure that there is no toll bypass and infringement on the jurisdiction of authorized Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). However, as per the said guidelines, the OSPs are required to maintain a copy of Call Detail Record (CDR), Usage Detail Record (UDR), System logs etc. to be furnished and provided to DoT/ Security Agencies, as and when required. Further, in case of complaint of violations, action would be taken by DoT field units in the Licensed Service Areas (LSAs) under the Indian Telegraph Act.