DOT: NASSCOM & DSCI submit the feedback on the Draft Indian Telecommunications Bill, 2022

Terms of use

Terms of Use

The use of this site and the content contained therein is governed by the Terms of Use. When you use this site you acknowledge that you have read the Terms of Use and that you accept and will be bound by the terms hereof and such terms as may be modified from time to time.

All text, graphics, audio, design and other works on the site are the copyrighted works of nasscom unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
Content on the site is for personal use only and may be downloaded provided the material is kept intact and there is no violation of the copyrights, trademarks, and other proprietary rights. Any alteration of the material or use of the material contained in the site for any other purpose is a violation of the copyright of nasscom and / or its affiliates or associates or of its third-party information providers. This material cannot be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted or distributed in any way for non-personal use without obtaining the prior permission from nasscom.
The nasscom Members login is for the reference of only registered nasscom Member Companies.
nasscom reserves the right to modify the terms of use of any service without any liability. nasscom reserves the right to take all measures necessary to prevent access to any service or termination of service if the terms of use are not complied with or are contravened or there is any violation of copyright, trademark or other proprietary right.
From time to time nasscom may supplement these terms of use with additional terms pertaining to specific content (additional terms). Such additional terms are hereby incorporated by reference into these Terms of Use.

Disclaimer

The Company information provided on the nasscom web site is as per data collected by companies. nasscom is not liable on the authenticity of such data.
nasscom has exercised due diligence in checking the correctness and authenticity of the information contained in the site, but nasscom or any of its affiliates or associates or employees shall not be in any way responsible for any loss or damage that may arise to any person from any inadvertent error in the information contained in this site. The information from or through this site is provided "as is" and all warranties express or implied of any kind, regarding any matter pertaining to any service or channel, including without limitation the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement are disclaimed. nasscom and its affiliates and associates shall not be liable, at any time, for any failure of performance, error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer virus, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorised access to, alteration of, or use of information contained on the site. No representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever are made as to the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, completeness, suitability or applicability of the information to a particular situation.
nasscom or its affiliates or associates or its employees do not provide any judgments or warranty in respect of the authenticity or correctness of the content of other services or sites to which links are provided. A link to another service or site is not an endorsement of any products or services on such site or the site.
The content provided is for information purposes alone and does not substitute for specific advice whether investment, legal, taxation or otherwise. nasscom disclaims all liability for damages caused by use of content on the site.
All responsibility and liability for any damages caused by downloading of any data is disclaimed.
nasscom reserves the right to modify, suspend / cancel, or discontinue any or all sections, or service at any time without notice.

For any grievances under the Information Technology Act 2000, please get in touch with Grievance Officer, Mr. Anirban Mandal at data-query@nasscom.in.

New

See all

No notification found.

DOT: NASSCOM & DSCI submit the feedback on the Draft Indian Telecommunications Bill, 2022

Varun Sen Bahl

@varunsenbahl1

November 21, 2022

Public Policy

304

Background

In September, the Department of Telecommunications released a new draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 (Telecom Bill), soliciting feedback from the public on the draft (see here). On November 20^th, NASSCOM & DSCI submitted their feedback on the Telecom Bill.

This follows up from the consultation paper released earlier in July, 2022 (which we summarized here and submitted comments upon as available here).

Our principal recommendation

Our principal recommendation is that the licensing regime should be designed using an activity-led and risk-based approach, and that obligations imposed on an activity must be proportionate to the harms and risks associated with it. It is also important to avoid regulatory overlaps.

In our submission, we have elaborated on this primary recommendation by mapping out the different activities potentially in scope, including some beyond telecom services, against the primary risks that, in our view, the Government of India seeks to address, either via this Bill or via other current or future laws, such as the Information Technology Act of 2000 or any future iteration of it (see here). We then state, with respect to the different examples in the definition of a telecom service, the following:

Broadcasting services should not be in the scope of this law, though existing carriage-related aspects may be in scope as a subset of the activity of providing infrastructure or facilities.
Satellite communication services merit a holistic examination, since their regulation involves multiple government bodies.
Virtual network operators should not be subject to licensing as they are more efficiently regulated through the contractual arrangements, they have with TSPs & ISPs.
OTT communication services should not be subject to licensing, since they are already governed under the IT Act for their relevant obligations.
Machine to machine services should not be subject to licensing, though some requirements may be considered, to the extent relevant from a telecom regulation perspective, on the activity of building network infrastructure and providing connectivity or device management services.
Undefined or outdated terms, like ‘data communication services’, ‘internet-based communication services’, ‘interpersonal communication services’, ‘electronic mail’, ‘audiotex’ or ‘videotex’ should be dropped.

We then recommend the definition of a telecom service be redefined to focus on services “for” telecommunications, and that this, in turn, should recognize the layered approach.

Other recommendations

Beyond this, we also offer recommendations on the rest of the Bill, including on the identification of subscribers, spectrum management, the treatment of equipment, the provisions on national security & public safety, the Telecom Development Fund, along with suggestions from a regulatory governance standpoint. Our detailed submission to DOT on the Telecom Bill is attached.

For more information, kindly write to sudipto@nasscom.in, vertika@nasscom.in, and varun@nasscom.in

#DOT #TelecomLaw #telecomindustry

Disclaimer

That the contents of third-party articles/blogs published here on the website, and the interpretation of all information in the article/blogs such as data, maps, numbers, opinions etc. displayed in the article/blogs and views or the opinions expressed within the content are solely of the author's; and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of NASSCOM or its affiliates in any manner. NASSCOM does not take any liability w.r.t. content in any manner and will not be liable in any manner whatsoever for any kind of liability arising out of any act, error or omission. The contents of third-party article/blogs published, are provided solely as convenience; and the presence of these articles/blogs should not, under any circumstances, be considered as an endorsement of the contents by NASSCOM in any manner; and if you chose to access these articles/blogs , you do so at your own risk.

Download Attachment

Varun Sen Bahl

Manager - Public Policy

Reach out to me for all things about data regulation, cybersecurity policy, and internet governance.

Nasscom Public Policy Highlights | ...

Sudipto