India’s Department of Telecom (DoT) asked Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block the URLs of Uber, Olacabs, TaxiForSure and Angel.

The authorities said that these companies were not operating legally as they were running cab operations without the necessary licences. Commenting on this issue, Rajesh Chharia, President, Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) said, “We can only block http websites and not the https. We have contacted to the telecom department that sites with high encryption codes cannot be blocked by us.” Since, the Uber and Ola are https sites; therefore, they could not be blocked. However, TaxiForSure website has been blocked in Delhi with immediate effect.

Earlier, all app-based taxi services were banned in New Delhi after a driver of Uber was allegedly accused of raping a female passenger. As Uber continues its quest for global ride-hailing domination, India is crucial to win. The country is Uber’s largest market outside of the United States in terms of cities covered and has a radio taxi market worth an estimated $6 billion to $9 billion

Some argued that if the ISPs cannot filter these web-based applications, then the government should go the other way around. It should block IP Addresses of PC and devices from accessing these applications. For instance, an Uber user in Delhi should be denied permission to its website and mobile application.

When taxi app sites like Uber and other were restricted in the India, some savvy users started using VPN services to evade the blocks on the original websites. VPN services replace original IP address of the user by IP address located in another country. It allows overcoming geo-restrictions and using Uber and other taxi apps without being catched.