Telecom Laws in India
Provisions of the Telecom Bill:
- Authorisation for Telecom-related Activities: Prior authorisation from the central government will be required to
- provide telecommunication services
- establish
- operate
- maintain, or expand telecommunications networks
- possess radio equipment.
- Existing licenses will continue to be valid for the period of their grant, or for five years, where the period is not specified.
- Assignment of Spectrum: Spectrum will be assigned by auction, except for specified uses, where it will be allocated on an administrative basis.
These include purposes such as:
- national security and defense
- disaster management
- weather forecasting
- transport
- satellite services such as DTH and satellite telephony, and BSNL, MTNL, and public broadcasting services.
- Satellite Internet Allotments: spectrum to satellite Internet providers like OneWeb (supported by Bharti) and U.S.-based companies such as SpaceX’s Starlink.
- Presently, active authorizations have been granted to OneWeb and Jio,
- Powers of Interception and Search: Messages or a class of messages between two or more persons may be intercepted, monitored, or blocked on certain grounds.
- Such actions must be necessary or expedient in the interest of public safety or public emergency
They must be in the interest of specified grounds which include:
- security of the state
- prevention of incitement of offenses, or public order.
- Telecom services may be suspended on similar grounds.
- The government may take temporary possession of any telecom infrastructure, network, or services on occurrence of any public emergency or public safety.
- An officer authorized by the government may search premises or vehicles for possession of unauthorized telecom networks or equipment.
- Powers to Specify Standards: The central government may prescribe standards and assessments for telecom equipment, infrastructure, networks, and services.
- Right of Way: Facility providers may seek a right of way over public or private property to establish telecom infrastructure.
- Right of way must be provided on a non-discriminatory and non-exclusive basis to the extent possible.
- Protection of Users: The central government may provide for measures to protect users which include:
- prior consent to receive specified messages such as
- advertising messages,
- creation of Do Not Disturb registers,
- mechanism to allow users to report malware or specified messages.
- Biometric Authentication is mandatory for telecom customers to combat spam calls and messages.
- Entities providing telecom services must establish an online mechanism for registration and redressal of grievances.
- Appointments to TRAI: The Bill amends the TRAI Act to also allow individuals with:
- at least 30 years of professional experience to serve as the chairperson
- and at least 25 years of professional experience to serve as members.
- Digital Bharat Nidhi: The Universal Service Obligation Fund has been established under the 1885 Act to provide for telecom services in underserved areas.
- Regulation of OTT Apps: It has removed over-the-top (OTT) services and apps from the definition of telecommunication services, in a big relief to communication service providers such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
- The Ministry of Electronics and IT will handle the regulation of OTT apps under the potential Digital India Act, not included in the Telecom Bill.
Offenses and Penalties:
- Providing telecom services without authorisation, or gaining unauthorized access to a telecom network or data, are punishable with imprisonment up to three years,a fine up to two crore rupees, or both.
- Breaching terms and conditions of authorisation is punishable with a civil penalty up to five crore rupees.
- Possessing unauthorized equipment, or using unauthorized network or service, is punishable with a penalty of up to ten lakh rupees.
- Adjudication Process: The central government will appoint an adjudicating officer to conduct inquiries and pass orders against civil offenses under the Bill.
- The officer must be of the rank of joint secretary and above.
- Orders of the adjudicating officer may be appealed before the Designated Appeals Committee within 30 days.
- Appeals against the orders of the Committee, in connection to breach of terms and conditions, may be filed with Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) within 30 days.
Issues with the bill:
- Renaming of the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) as the “Digital Bharat Nidhi: The mere change in name does little to address the challenges of a persisting digital divide that have recently become worse.
- Allocation of satellite spectrum without the need for auctions: This is likely to benefit the market entry of select private firms.
State control is present throughout the Telecom Act:
- For instance, “licensing” has been changed to “authorisation” while making it more severe.
- Definitional vagueness of “telecommunication” and “telecommunication services” that will include “transmission of any messages”
- This will allow the Union government to license Over-The-Top (OTT) messaging applications such as WhatsApp or email services such as Gmail.
- This will be used alongside other regulations to break the security and confidentiality by using encryption-based messaging.
- Interception and surveillance powers, or Internet shutdowns: language from the Telegraph Bill has been plagiarized without safeguards.
- Insertions, when present, such as a fresh provision on “national security”, expand the ability of the Union government to use, prescribe standards, suspend and take over any telecommunication service.
- To ensure the web of a surveillance state is complete, the law requires any telecommunications service provider, that may include WhatsApp or Signal, to identify the user by “any verifiable biometric based identification as may be prescribed”.
- A standard “kartavya kaal” clause has been added in which there is a legal penalty of ₹25,000 for providing “any false particulars, suppressing any material information”, and, “fail to share information as required by this Act”.
Way Forward:
- It should have been sent to a Standing Committee”: Instead, the Telecom Bill was passed in haste through both Houses of Parliament.
- Anuradha Bhasin vs Union Of India: Learnings and recommendations from the Supreme Court’s decision and the 2021 report of the Standing Committee on Information Technology need to be taken into consideration.
