New Telecom Bill introduced in Lok Sabha

Union communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday (Dec 18) introduced draft of The Telecommunications Bill, 2023 in Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament of India.

The Telecom Bill seeks to repeal Indian Telegraph Act (1885), Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act (1933) and The Telegraph Wire (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950.

However there are few controversies because of some of the proposed measures under the bill. Notably, the bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on a day Parliament of India suspended 78 Opposition MPs. These include MPs from both house of the parliament.

What is the Telecom Bill and what is it proposing?

The draft bill seeks to create a legal and regulatory framework for safe telecom network

There is a proposal in the draft to remove communication platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram etc from the purview of the bill.

An earlier draft had recommended otherwise.

The bill seeks to give the government power to suspend, take control of, or manage any telecommunication service , network in case of a public emergency or over matters of national security.

"On the occurrence of any public emergency, including disaster management, or in the interest of public safety, the Central Government or a State Government or any officer specially authorised in this behalf by the Central Government or a State Government, if satisfied that is necessary or expedient so to do, by notification-- (a) take temporary possession of any telecommunication service or telecommunication network from any authorised entity; or (b) provide for appropriate mechanism to ensure that messages of a user or group of users authorised for response and recovery during public emergency are routed on priority," the bill reads.

The bill also proposes that government be give power to take steps such as entry fee waiver, license fee, penalty etc in order to ensure there is competition in the telecom sector.

The draft seeks to remove OTT apps from the definition of telecommunication.

The Telecom Bill also has provisions aimed at easing some rules related to license fee refund, resgistration fee refund and more in case a company surrenders its permit.

The bill is seeking to create framework for telecom network by right of way provisions and establishing common ducts.

The draft bill has also proposed that the government should be given the right to administratively allocate satellite spectrum. Till now, telecom companies have taken part in auctions and have presented bids to win the spectrum.

Are there any concerns about provisions in draft Telecom Bill?

Governments have previously taken steps such as suspending internet services in areas marred by violence till peaceful conditions prevail. This step in itself has been topic of debate.

But now the draft Telecom Bill proposes to empower government to "take temporary possession" of the network. Experts have been quoted in media reports saying that government should clarify what is 'possession' and how would be the 'temporary' period be defined.

Critics of the legislation have accused that bill will result in TRAI becoming just a rubber stamp, as the bill considerably dilutes the reguator's powers.?

The draft also seeks to allow appointment of private sector corporate executives for the role of TRAI chairperson. This provision may possibly start a debate.

The draft says such an executive may be appointed "if such person has at least thirty years of professional experience and has served as a member of the board of directors or a chief executive of a company in certain areas".

Another issue is that of administrative spectrum allocation.This method of spectrum allocation, bypassing auctions, is expected to accelerate the launch of their services. Private telecom companies are divided on this matter.

During TRAI's consultation process in June this year Elon Musk's Starlink, Amazon's Project Kuiper, India's Tata Group opposed allocation of satellite spectrum through auction. Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio supported spectrum auctions.