Introduction:
Govt has put draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 in public domain for suggestions and feedback. The proposed Bill aims to bring sweeping changes to how the telecom sector is governed. It seeks to replace three laws: the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950. The draft bill takes in to consideration the need for a new legal framework that is future-ready. OTT and communication apps such as Whatsapp, Signal, Telegram and others that may provide voice or video calling would fall under the ambit of this bill but through a light-touch regulation. It also provides for an enabling framework to facilitate innovation and technological development in telecommunication. The draft bill also enables a legal framework for preventing harassment of users from unsolicited calls and messages.
Draft Telecommunication Bill and its analysis:
- Through the Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, the Centre aims to consolidate and amend the existing laws governing the provision, development, expansion and operation of telecommunication services, telecom networks and infrastructure, in addition to assignment of spectrum.
- The draft Bill, which was published by the DoT, consolidates three separate acts that govern the telecommunications sector — Indian Telegraph Act 1885, Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933, and The Telegraph Wires, (Unlawful Protection) Act 1950.
- Amongst various amendments and changes, the bill seeks to combine the three acts that govern the telecommunications sector: Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933, and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Protection) Act, 1950.
- In terms of users’ safety and security, the telecommunications bill aims to enable a legal framework to prevent the harassment of users from unauthenticated sources.
- The draft establishes that the prior consent of the user is necessary before offering any promotional services or advertisement.
- This way, as India is already one of the worst impacted countries through spam calls and text messages, many users can expect relief from regularly being bombarded with such unsolicited intimations.
- The bill provides for the right of appealbefore the appellate authority. Besides, the central government is also enabled to set up an alternate dispute resolution mechanism which can range from mediation, arbitration, etc.
- The draft bill also assigns unwavering power to the central government. First, it can waver, in part or whole, any fee for any licensing holder or a registered entity under the rule.
- Second, it seeks to dilute the watchdog function of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to a recommendatory body.
- Third, if a telecom entity that possesses spectrum undergoes bankruptcy or insolvency, the assigned spectrum will return to the central government’s control.
- The new bill also proposes to replace the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) with the Telecommunication Development Fund (TDF). While the USOF Fund has been primarily used to aid rural connectivity, the TDF aims to boost connectivity in underserved urban regions, skill development, etc
- One of the key changes is inclusion of new-age over-the-top communication services like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram in the definition of telecommunication services.
- As per the draft law, providers of telecommunication services will be covered under the licensing regime, and will be subjected to similar rules as other telecom operators.
- This issue has been under contention for several years now with telecom service providers seeking a level-playing field with OTT apps over communication servicessuch as voice calls, messages, etc. where operators had to incur high costs of licences and spectrum, while OTT players rode on their infrastructure to offer free service
