The government on Thursday announced simplified guidelines for BPOs and ITES companies to reduce the compliance burden on them and to facilitate 'Work From Home' and 'Work From Anywhere' framework. The new rules for Other Service Providers (OSPs) seek to create a friendly regime for 'Work from Home' and 'Work from Anywhere', while removing frequent reporting obligations for such companies, according to an official release. The move assumes significance as the industry had been asking for relaxations for 'Work From Home' to continue on a permanent basis as the sector moves towards a blended working model in the post-COVID-19 era.

Put simply, OSPs are entities providing applications services, IT enabled services or any kind of outsourcing services using telecom resources. The term refers to Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs), Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPOs), IT Enabled Services (ITES) players, call centres, amongst others. The detailed guidelines issued by the Telecom Department on Thursday said that the concept of 'Work From Home' will be encouraged and that "work from home has been extended to provide Work-From-Anywhere in India". This facility of extended agent/Remote Agent Position (that is 'Work From Home/Anywhere') is permitted with certain conditions, it said, adding that agents at home shall be treated as 'Remote Agents' of the OSP Centre and interconnection is permitted.