A day after a panel of the department of telecommunications (DoT) proposed regulation of domestic calls on Internet-based apps like Skype, WhatsApp and Viber by putting them on par with services offered by telecom operators, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on the Friday that the committee's report is not the final view of the government and a structured decision will be taken only after looking into views of all stakeholders.

DoT's report has come in for criticism from consumer groups because if its recommendation is implemented, it could end free domestic calls offered by apps like Skype and WhatsApp. The committee has also opposed projects like Facebook's Internet.org which allow access to certain websites without mobile data charges while suggesting that similar plans such as Airtel Zero, which heated up debate on Net neutrality, be allowed with prior clearance from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

"It is the report of a committee of officers which I had constituted to study the entire gamut of net neutrality," Prasad said adding that the report is now in public domain for comments and it would also be sent to Trai.

"What I said in Parliament was that Narendra Modi government is committed towards providing non-discriminatory Internet access to all the citizens." The panel gave the suggestion to provide a level playing field to telcos, who have been complaining that these companies offer voice calls but do not pay licence fees. Telcos have also complained that these free services are impacting their revenues.

In case licence fees is imposed on these apps, they are expected to pass on the burden to consumers. The report has also recommended that free SMS services and international calls offered by these apps should be allowed to continue in their present form.

Telcos, which have hailed the report, contend that they are under financial distress and there should be a level playing field between them and over-the-top (OTT) players like WhatsApp and Viber. The pricing difference is around 12.5 times in the case of a voice call and 16 times for messages between services offered by telecom operators and OTT players, according to Trai data.

For a one-minute phone call, a customer is charged around 50 paise, but a call made using Internet costs 4 paisa, according to Trai calculations.

Meanwhile, the Congress my biz dubbed the report as anti-consumer insisting that it has failed to meet two main issues and leans towards the lobby of telecom companies. Noting that distinctions have been made between domestic and international calling applications, he said that the attempt to bring in regulation is not healthy and not acceptable.

The Left joined the issue as well with CPI national secretary D. Raja saying that "such recommendation may affect users. "We definitely will take up the issue in Parliament (Monsoon Session, which begins on July 21)."