India’s parliament has passed a telecoms bill that would replace its century-old rules, as the country, which has more than 1.17 billion phone connections and 881 million internet subscribers, aims to modernize connectivity and embrace new services including satellite broadband, months ago. Only from the general elections.
On Thursday, the upper house of the Indian Parliament approved the Telecommunications Bill, 2023, through a voice vote, just one day after the lower house approved the bill, with several opposition leaders absent due to their comments. The bill, which repeals rules put in place in the telegraph era since 1885, gives Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government the power to use and control telecommunications services and networks and monitor traffic data in the interest of national security. It also provides the basis for the Indian government to intercept communications.
The newly passed telecommunications bill also allows spectrum to be allocated to satellite-based services without participating in auctions, a move that favors companies including OneWeb, Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper that are all keen to start satellite broadband services in the world’s largest country by population and has the long-awaited “administrative process” on spectrum allocation auctions. India’s Jio, which is looking to compete with the three global players with its homegrown satellite broadband service but with relatively limited resources, had earlier opposed an administrative spectrum allocation model.
The bill also provides for biometric verification of subscribers and limits the number of SIM cards used by each subscriber to reduce fraud. In addition, it includes provisions for civil penalties of up to $12,000 in the event of violating specific provisions, and up to $600,400 in the event of violating the terms and conditions specified in the law.
As the Indian government intends to attract foreign investors by expanding private sector participation, the bill carries amendments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 that aims to regulate telecommunications. These amendments allow executives with more than 30 years of experience in the private sector to be appointed as regulators. Chairman, while those over the age of 25 can be members. The country previously allowed only retired government employees to serve as chairmen and members of the regulatory body.
“These are very comprehensive and very big structural reforms that have come from the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji. The legacy of the old scammers in the telecom sector will be left behind and arrangements will be made through the bill,” Ashwini Vaishnao, India’s Minister for Telecom, said while presenting the bill in Parliament. This is to make the telecom sector a bright sector.”
Interestingly, the draft telecommunications law excludes the term “OTT”, available in its initial draft last year, which refers to regulations for over-the-top (OTT) messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram. Industry bodies, including the Indian Internet and Mobile Association, which counts Google and Meta among its members, have applauded the change. However, the scope of the regulation is not clearly defined throughout the document. Shivnath Thukral, head of public policy for Meta in India, warned in an internal email that the government may have the power to classify OTT apps as telecom services in the future and subject them to a licensing regime, as mentioned By Indian outlet Moneycontrol.
Digital rights activists and privacy advocacy groups have also raised concerns about regulatory ambiguity and the lack of public consultation on the final version of the bill.
At a public event earlier this week, Apar Gupta, founding director of the digital rights group Internet Freedom Foundation, said the bill lacks a protective structure against those subject to surveillance.
“The Department of Communications still refuses to create a central repository for Internet shutdowns, which reduces transparency. We are completely ignoring the central core of the required communications rules,” he stressed.
Digital rights organization Access Now has called for the draft law to be withdrawn and a new draft to be created through consultation.
“The bill is reactionary because it strengthens the government’s colonial-era powers to intercept communications and shut down the internet. It undermines end-to-end encryption, which is critical to privacy,” Namrata Maheshwari, Asia-Pacific policy advisor at Access Now, said in a prepared statement.
The bill now awaits the approval of the Indian President to become an official law.