Unwinding the new OSP Guidelines – Another step towards Liberalisation
In a highly acknowledged move, The Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) after much consideration has introduced some great news for IT-enabled services, Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) and Other Service Providers (OSPs) mandating WFH for encouraging “Work From Home” and “Work From Anywhere”. The new rules suppressed the registration prerequisites of BPOs that engage in data-related works only. They no longer are a portion of OSPs.
With the new guidelines of DoT, the OSPs like the BPO and ITes firms will no longer have to invest on an office set up that will in turn cut on lease for premises, power, internet bills and other such subordinate costs facilitating business.
OSP Announcements for “Work From Anywhere”
- Work from home has now been extended to work from anywhere in India.
- The agents working from home will now be treated as remote agents of the OSP.
- Interconnection between OSP center and remote centre is permitted.
- Remote agents can work from anywhere in India.
- If any remote agent commits any violation regarding toll-bypass, OSP shall be held responsible.
PM Narendra Modi said that the Centre was committed to doing everything conceivable to guarantee a conducive environment for development and innovation in India, as the government declared streamlined rules for the BPO industry and IT-enabled services.
The registration prerequisite for other service providers (OSPs) has been done away with altogether. The BPO industry engaged in data-related work is out of the ambit of OSP controls, PM Modi said in a series of tweets.
The comments come soon after the Ministry of Communications reported the streamlined rules for business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT-enabled services (ITES) players to diminish the compliance burden for the industry.
“Committed to furthering ‘Ease of Doing Business’ and making India a tech hub!” PM Modi tweeted. “GoI has significantly simplified Other Service Provider (OSP) guidelines of the Telecom Department. Compliance burdens of the BPO industry will be greatly reduced due to this.”
“Many other requirements have been done away with. These steps will further flexibility and productivity,” he said.
OSPs are entities providing applications, IT-enabled or any kind of outsourcing services using telecom resources. The term refers to BPOs, KPOs (knowledge process outsourcing), ITES, call centres, among others.
“India’s IT sector is our pride and the prowess of this sector is recognised globally,” PM Modi said. “We are committed to doing everything possible to ensure a conducive environment for growth and innovation in India. Today’s decisions will especially encourage young talent in the sector!”
Click here to see OSP Guidelines
Stay tuned for regular updates on DoT Regulations.
Published on: 17 Dec 2020
Author: Chitraba Raj