The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on Monday urged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that bringing Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (FAST) and Application-Based Linear Television Distribution (ALTD) Services under licensing or authorisation framework will lead to “over regulation” that may adversely impact investments and consumer access to diverse range of content. It added that since these channels operate on the open internet rather than one of spectrum scarcity, the foundational rationale for broadcasting-style regulation does not exist and would prove to be an act of overregulation. It also said that this may affect investment, innovation and consumer access to a diverse range of content. TRAI is in the process of seeking stakeholders views on its consultation paper on the ‘Formulation of a Regulatory Framework for ALTD Services (Including FAST Services). The Association stressed that extending broadcasting regulations to the FAST and ALTD services would run contrary to the spirit of the government’s own laws governing the digital content ecosystem as they are app-based internet services. It also pointed out that many online content providers offering FAST channels operate across multiple jurisdictions through standardised products and content pipelines. Introducing a separate India-specific licensing requirement could create avoidable regulatory complexity and compliance costs without proportionate consumer benefit.“The ALTD and FAST services operate exclusively at the application layer over the open internet. They merely utilise the underlying network layer to deliver content to consumers. These are fundamentally distinct from traditional Distribution Platform Operators (DPOs), which own and manage last-mile closed-network infrastructure. ALTD/FAST services are inherently network-agnostic applications that do not seek the allocation of scarce natural resources like spectrum to install infrastructure. Application providers rely on the public internet’s ‘best-effort’ routing since, the actual carriage of data is executed entirely by a user’s chosen internet service provider,” it added. “The Telecommunications Act, 2023 represents a legislative decision by Parliament to exclude Over-the-Top (OTT) services from its ambit. Any attempt to bring them under a broadcasting authorisation framework would, in effect, be a misplaced attempt to regulate Online Curated Content Providers (OCCPs), circumventing Parliamentary decision,” it added “This definitive position was explicitly confirmed by the then Hon’ble Union Minister of Communications (Telecom), who stated: “OTT has been regulated by the IT Act of 2000 and continues to be regulated by the IT Act. There is no coverage of OTT in the new telecom bill passed by the Parliament,” IAMAI said. It also said that online content is sought to be regulated by the Government (MeitY and MIB) under the Information Technology Act 2000 and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Stating that India’s regulatory approach ought to be oriented toward easing the compliance burden on overregulated sectors, it urged for the implementation of regulatory forbearance for traditional broadcasting and distribution platforms by systematically removing the archaic tariff and regulatory burdens that currently restrict them. Published on July 20, 2026