OSPAI is the OSP industry representative body

An association of all Other Service Providers including BPO’s / KPO’s etc.

Industry interface for the Government bodies like DoT, STPI, TRAI, SEZ, DIT etc., for growth of India’s Services GDP especially under the category of “Other Service Providers”

Present & discuss the challenges of the industry with concerned Authorities in the Government and to facilitate policy changes

Create awareness among our members regarding the:◦ Emerging & Next Generation

technology trends in Telecom & IT◦ Sharing of Best Business Practices

across industry

To collaborate with Department of Telecom, pertaining to issues like, but not limited to:-

To establish strategic relationship with government, to help formulate best policies and practices to promote co-operation.

Suggestions for simplifying the procedures of registration enabling faster registration of new OSP’s Encourage and facilitate Work from Home for Call Centre Agents.

To make the Call Centre set up technology neutral

Launch Of OSPAI at New Delhi on 11th Aug 2008

Indian ITeS-BPO grew by 30 per cent in FY2008 to reach USD 11+ billion in aggregate revenue

IT-BPO Direct employment in Indian ITeS-BPO crossed the 7 lacs mark, indirect job creation is estimated at about 2 million

BPO services exports up by 30% (USD), is the fastest growing segment across software and services exports driven by scale as well as scope.

Huge potential (USD 50 bn, + 2 mn additional direct jobs) to grow by ensuring competitive advantage for India through◦ Regulations in line with Global trends◦ Leverage infrastructure for domestic

operations

* Sources Nasscom

1) The concept of agent positions working from Home has been introduced.

2) The restriction of 10% outgoing PSTN lines in a Domestic Call Centre (DCC) and submission of associated Bank Guarantee of Rs.10 Lakhs has been dispensed with.

3) The amount of Bank Guarantee has been reduced in cases of resources sharing between International OSP and Domestic OSP.

4) Standalone OSP centres have been been merged with the Domestic OSPs category

5) Definition of ‘Telecom Resources’ has been expanded.

6) Documents required to be submitted along with the application form has been simplified.

7) A single application form for registration of OSP and uniform format for registration certificate to be issued by all VTM units to avoid discrepancies and eventually making the process online, have been prescribed

Mr. S.V. Ramana, President

Mr. N.L. Verma, Secretary General

Mr. Sanjay Diwan, Vice President

Mr. Sanjay Prasad, Vice President

Mr. P.V. Ramadas, Treasurer

Mr. Jitesh Midha, Executive Member Ms. Archana Sasan, Executive Member Mr. Manish Dewan, Executive Member Mr. Sunil Cherian, Executive Member Mr. Dinesh K. Shiv, Executive Member

N L Verma

Secretary General

S V Ramana President

Sanjay Diwan Vice President

Sanjay Prasad Vice President

P V Ramadas

Treasurer

OSPAI Members

1) Return of BGs submitted earlier to DoT for Rs 10 Lacs towards compliance to 10% of lines be outgoing out of total PSTN lines incase of DCC and finalization of operational mechanism for replacement of old BGs of Rs 2.5 Cr and Rs 5.0 Cr for sharing of seats/PBX between ICC & DCC with new BGs of Rs 0.5 Cr and Rs 1.0 Cr

2) Submission of network diagram being mandated by certain VTM’s when the same is not required at the time of initial application

3) Prior approvals are not be required for change of Location / Change of floor of OSP, only intimation is required. However this is not followed.

4) Audit of existing call center before processing an application for a new call center be dispensed with

5) Problems related to usage of foreign IP addresses.(As per some of the VTM only IP Address provided by APNIC should be used). Use of foreigner IP addresses should be allowed (including customer extended IP’s)

6) Problem Created by several VTM’s in regard to getting Signatures on every page of memorandum and article of an association.

7) Speedy implementation of on line OSP registration

8) Different VTMs interpret the OSP guidelines differently

9) Readiness of BG for Work From

Recommendation : In a view to clarify / resolve open operational issues; we request DoT to setup a monthly meeting involving all VTM’s with OSP.

Work From HomeWork From Home: Current Policy: Current Policy

The concept of Extended Agent Position (Work From Home) is permitted with the following conditions:

(i) The OSP operator shall submit a security deposit of Rs.5 crores with an agreement envisaging to meet certain obligations like exclusive use of home agent, all responsibility to be borne by OSP etc.

(ii) The agents at home shall be treated as Extended Agent Position of the call centre and interconnection is permitted through authorised service Providers Provisioned (secured) VPN (PPVPN) which have pre defined locations i.e. home of the agents and OSP centre as VPN sites. Over and above PPVPN, the OSP may use their own security mechanism like Authentication, Authorization and Accounting. Such work from home facility shall be limited to the SSA of the OSP Centre and adjoining SSAs.

(iii) The Authority shall have the right to carry out periodic / surprise inspections of such establishments.

Issue: Very High bank Guarantee; Rs. 5 Crore’s per registration Suggested changes: Reduction of BG to Rs. 1 Crore per company

Issue: Restriction of coverage area to Secondary Switching Area (SSA) and adjoining SSA

Suggested changes: Permit ICC agents to work from home, anywhere in India

Issue: Work From Agents interconnection permitted only through VPN (PP VPN), PSTN not permitted

Suggested changes: Permit interconnection through PSTN based Voice-over VPN service, as penetration of broad band in far flung areas is low and unstable

Issue: No Proof-of-concept (PoC) allowed without BG Suggested changes: Allow OSPs to run PoC with Service Providers

for a limited period (say 6 months) after informing DoT, but without the need for BG. Production to start post BG only.

Work From HomeWork From Home: Issues/Challenges : Issues/Challenges & Suggested changes& Suggested changes

IndiaPSTN

- Subscriber lines with voice VPN services installed at employee homes.- Employees are only allowed to dial the PSTN number terminated on Call Center PBX with no other connectivity/access- No connectivity between OSP Call center PBX and Domestic PBX- The OSP will secure agreement with employees, for not using the phones for any public use.

OSP PoPOutside India

Work From Home - Option-2 Voice VPN services

OSP Registered site in India

123456789*0#

Foreign end PSTN

India PSTN

123456789*0#

Domestic PBX

OSP Employee in IndiaOperating out of home

Call Center PBX

123456789*0#123456789*0#

No Connectivity Between domestic PBX and OSP Call Center PBX

OSP Employee in IndiaOperating out of home

123456789*0#

123456789*0#

StandardPhone

StandardPhone

Telephones

123456789*0#

VoiceVPN Service

VoiceVPN Service

Customer

Internet Remote User(Soft-phone)

User in IndiaOperating out of home

Work from Home – Voice VPN services

Already approved withBank Guarantee of Rs. 5 Crores

No Connectivity between domestic PBX and OSP Call Center PBX

(or with logical partitioning)

The current OSP Policy only allows sharing of PBX between ICC andDCC with logical partition & BG

Issue: ICC OSP community has to make high Capital investments for a separate PBX, phones, cables, LAN infrastructure for call centre and normal PSTN use ◦ $200,000 for a 1000 seater facility◦ A non environment friendly IT resulting huge e-waste and global

warming in long term.◦ Unable to compete with other countries like China, Philippines

where single EPABX/other IT infrastructure is permitted.

Suggested changes: Permit sharing of single EPABX and other related IT infrastructure between ICC and domestic PSTN use with Bang Guarantee of INR 1 Crore for one company, with out the need for DCC.

How separation will be achieved?◦ There would be no call connectivity whatsoever between the International Call Center partition

and the normal Office partition on the PBX◦ A Single phone with dual buttons (one for ICC and the other for PSTN - normal PBX) will be

deployed per agent location◦ Compliance “to NLD / ILD bypass” through logical partitioning ◦ Calls cannot be conference/transferred/forwarded between the ICC partition and the PSTN

partition

1. Permit interconnections of any two international OSP’sCurrent Policy : International OSP’s of same company/group company is permitted to interconnect their networks.

Issue : International OSP’s not belonging to same group company are not permitted to connect to each other’s network within India for data/voice connectivity.

This is resulting in expensive connectivity costs Loss of benefits like call overflow, BCP situation etc.

Suggested Changes : Permit interconnect of any two international OSP’snetworks with-in India with-out any restrictions.

2. Permit interconnections of any two Domestic OSP’sCurrent Policy : Domestic OSP’s of same company/group company is permitted to interconnect their networks.

Issue : Domestic OSP’s not belonging to same group company are not permitted to connect to each other’s network within India for data/voice connectivity.

This is resulting in expensive connectivity costs Loss of benefits like call overflow, BCP situation etc.

Suggested Changes : Permit interconnect of any two Domestic OSP’s networkswith-in India with-out any restrictions.

3a. Permit interconnections between ICC and Client offices with-in India.Current Policy : International OSP’s of same company/group company are only permitted to interconnect their networks.

Issue : International OSP and customer office in India are not permitted to connect to each other’s network for use of customer’s international bandwidth by an who is ICC providing services

This is resulting in expensive connectivity costs Loss of benefits like call overflow, BCP situation etc Slow application response for certain cases

Suggested Changes : Permit International OSPs to connect to their customer network within India for data/voice connectivity to Access customer’s applications / systems in India as well asAbroad through customer’s International connectivity.

ICC and Customer ConnectivityICC and Customer Connectivity

Dedicated NetworkCustomer - B

LAN

Customer – B India Location

LAN

Telephone Telephone TelephoneTelephone

Customer – B Outside India PoP

LAN

Telephone

Servers

Dedicated NetworkCustomer - A

LAN

TelephoneTelephone

IPLC / MPLS / VPN Link International OSP

Shared Network Multiple Customers

LAN

TelephoneTelephone

Data Only

Leased Line/VPN/ MPLS

OSP

Customer

IPLC / MPLS / VPN Link

3b. Permit data interconnections between ICC/DCC and it’s contracted 3rd party company with-in India.Current Policy : International/Domestic OSP’s of same company/group company are only permitted to interconnect their networks.

This helps in providing services at lower cost This will facilitate industry to be more competitive

Suggested Changes : Permit OSPs to connect to outsource data work to 3rd party providers ( e.g. data

entry operators ).

3rd Party company may not require OSP registration

3c. Permit voice/data interconnections between ICC/DCC and it’s contracted 3rd party companies with-in India.Current Policy : International / Domestic OSP’s of same company/group company are only permitted to interconnect their networks.

This helps in providing services at lower cost This will facilitate industry to be more competitive

Suggested Changes : Permit OSPs to connect to outsourced work to 3rd party providers ( e.g. collections

agents).

3rd Party company may not require OSP registration

(3rd Party)(3rd Party)

1. Clarity / Permitting of Foreign Telecom Service Providers having channel partner agreement with Indian Authorised TSP, to provision bandwidth to OSPs, with Indian TSP approving network diagram.

2. Permit seamless integration of India PSTN with leased lines (TDM / VoIP), since ADC is abolished, to boost Indian Service Industry; i.e. full Convergence/Unified Communications

In a view to review policy matters towards promoting industry growth and strengthen the

industry to compete effectively; we recommend quarterly steering committee

meeting with all stake holders.