Given Reliance Jio's lack of traditional voice offering and considering that its Vo-LTE offering may not be mature immediately, we see a possibility that Jio may look to acquire a VOIP license. In such a scenario, we do not see the possibility of free VOIP calls being offered. We think this is slightly positive for existing telcos like Bharti/Idea as cannibalization of voice revenues from VOIP uptake will likely be slower.
Will International OTT Players Opt for VoIP License in India ?
We see very few of the international OTT players [Google+Hangouts] applying for the recommended OTT license to offer domestic VOIP. This is because these companies are not telecom service providers and may not make an exception for one country like India to take
an OTT license. However, the home grown OTTs like Jio chat/Hike may possibly opt to take the license which may allow them to gain traction in the messaging space which is currently dominated by foreign OTT players
