New Delhi [India], September 22 (ANI): The Department of Telecommunications has launched a brand new draft Bill, by way of which the federal government seeks to exchange the present authorized framework governing telecommunications in India.
The authorities by way of the brand new Bill seeks to consolidate the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950.
The Centre believes India wants a authorized framework attuned to the realities of the twenty first century, explanatory notice to the Bill proposed to be named Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, mentioned.
“The existing regulatory framework for the telecommunication sector is based on the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. The nature of telecommunication, its usage and technologies have undergone a massive change since the era of the “telegraph”. The world stopped using “telegraph” in 2013,” the explanatory notice mentioned.
It mentioned the world is now within the period of recent applied sciences resembling 4G and 5G, the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, M2M Communications, and Mobile Edge Computing.
With 117 crore subscribers, India is the world’s second-largest telecommunication ecosystem.
The telecommunication sector employs greater than 4 million individuals and contributes about 8 per cent of the nation’s GDP, the notice mentioned.
The Ministry of Communications initiated a public consultative course of to develop a contemporary and future-ready authorized framework. In July 2022, a Consultation Paper on ‘Need for a brand new authorized framework governing Telecommunication in India’ was revealed and feedback had been invited.
The Consultation Paper defined the present authorized framework and points related to it. The Consultation Paper highlighted the evolution of telecommunication regulation in different international locations.
Then, feedback have been acquired from numerous stakeholders and trade associations. The Ministry has additional examined the feedback rigorously and the next key themes have emerged:While making ready the draft, related legislations in Australia, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan and the United States of America have additionally been examined intimately, the federal government mentioned.
The Draft Bill says that contemplating spectrum as a invaluable and inexhaustible pure useful resource, a component of public good, it’s important to make sure environment friendly administration and use of the spectrum.
This new invoice will consolidate and amend the legal guidelines governing the supply, improvement, enlargement and operation of telecommunication providers, telecommunication networks and telecommunication infrastructure, and spectrum task.
Under the brand new Bill, amongst many new internet-based providers, the OTT platforms shall be thought of “telecommunication services”.
Besides OTTs, broadcasting providers, piece of email, voice mail, voice, video and knowledge communication providers, audiotex providers, videotex providers, mounted and cellular providers, web and broadband providers, satellite-based communication providers, internet-based communication providers, in-flight and maritime connectivity providers, interpersonal communications providers, machine to machine communication providers shall be now thought of as “telecommunication services”.
The Draft Bill additionally mentioned the Central Government shall have the unique privilege to supply telecommunication providers, set up, function, preserve and increase telecommunication community and telecommunication infrastructure, and use, allocate and assign spectrum.
The final date for sending feedback, if any, on the Draft Bill is October 20, 2022, they usually could also be despatched to naveen.kumar71@gov.in (ANI)