According to a new Global Trends benchmark, only a few countries around the world have explicitly defined over-the-top (OTT) interpersonal communication platforms like WhatsApp and WeChat in their legal and regulatory frameworks.

However, in most countries analysed, regulatory authorities performed impact assessments of these services. In some cases, regulators also revised regulatory regimes in the respective countries in order to protect competition, consumers, or national security.

The new benchmark, covering Australia, Brazil, China, the EU, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and the US, analyses OTT voice and messaging services and apps from three different angles:

• Definitions and impact assessments by national authorities.
• Key obligations imposed on OTT providers, including licensing, in-country legal presence, and interoperability requirements.
• Law enforcement framework and collaboration duties imposed on OTT providers, including user identity verification, metadata retention, and access by authorities to the content of end-users’ calls and messages.

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