Ask HN: Is it legal to use Twilio/Plivo within India Context: Want to setup a telephony solution for an Indian business with Indian customers. Would preferrably want a cloud solution with API access like Twilio.
But AFAIK Indian regulations prohibit VoIP to PSTN telephony in India. So have regulations changed or Twilio/Plivo have found a way to stay compliant? |
"In India, VoIP is allowed, but only for computer-to-computer communications. India deregulated IP Telephony on 1 April 2002 following the ITUís World Telecommunication Policy Forum held in 2001 on the topic of ì IP Telephonyî. Indiaís proposed unified licence regime, however, would impose no restriction on VoIP telephony or other IP-enabled services, provided they are offered by operators with a unified licence that have duly paid all required registration charges."
..In practice, this means Twilio can terminate a call into India, as long as the route the call takes is via a licensed operator. This is Twilio's problem, not yours. (unless it says otherwise in their terms).
It also means if an individual, physically within India, chooses to make an outbound call, over the Twilio service, then the endpoint has to be another IP-endpoint. Or if to a 'copper cable endpoint', then at least traverse over an appropriate Indian carrier at some point. Probably using some kind of PSTN-IP gateway. Again, Twilio's problem and not yours (unless it says otherwise in their terms).
These complications were introduced to prevent people in India setting up copper cable-IP gateways, taking advantage of cheaper retail call bundles, and selling them cheap on the wholesale market. Naughty!
Personally, I would contact Twilio. They won't be able to give legal advice, but they will at least tell you if they can legally facilitate the requirement.
> as long as the route the call takes is via a licensed operator. This is Twilio's problem, not yours.
I surmised as much. Have not been able to speak to Twilio. But Plivo's reps assure me that compliance is not an issue. But we want to be doubly sure. Do not want to be railroaded by legality somewhere down the line