The Editorial 01 Oct, 2022 - Letting go of a chance to democratize telecom services

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

Theme : Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors 
Paper : GS - 2

The Union government has published the Draft Telecommunications Bill, 2022 to replace the Telegraph Act, 1885.The Bill aims to create a legal framework attuned to the realities of the 21st century to ensure India’s socio-economic development.
The Bill seeks to replace three laws, the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950.
Enabling the government to order suspension of internet power: Currently, suspension of internet services is ordered under the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (TSTS) Rules, 2017.

 

TABLE OF CONTENT :

1. Context
2. Provisions of draft Indian Telecommunication Bill 2022 
3. Various Rules & Laws governing Communication Surveillance in India
4. Concerns over the bill
5. Net Neutrality
6. TRAI
7. Need a Re-Examination?

Context :
The Union government has published the Draft Telecommunications Bill, 2022 to replace the Telegraph Act, 1885.The Bill aims to create a legal framework attuned to the realities of the 21st century to ensure India’s socio-economic development.

Provisions of draft Indian Telecommunication Bill  2022 

• The Bill seeks to replace three laws, the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950.
• Enabling the government to order suspension of internet power: Currently, suspension of internet services is ordered under the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (TSTS) Rules, 2017.
• Makes auction as the primary route for telecom spectrum allocation
• TSP to exploit its spectrum resource fully: By enabling sharing, trading, leasing, surrendering or returning unutilised spectrum.
• Simplifies the process for restructuring, merging or demerging of telecom firms.

• It mandates that land owned by a public entity should be available expeditiously unless there is an express ground of refusal.

• Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF): It allows this fund to be utilized for other purposes such as urban areas connectivity, research etc. 

Various Rules & Laws governing Communication Surveillance in India :

• Information Technology Act, 2000: It was enacted to deal with surveillance of all electronic communication, following the Supreme Court’s intervention in 1996.
• Electronic surveillance:Section 69 of the IT Act and the IT (Procedure for Safeguards for Interception, Monitoring, and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009 were enacted to further the legal framework for electronic surveillance.
• Data interception:Under the IT Act, all electronic transmission of data can be intercepted.
• Section 69 of the IT Act adds another aspect that makes it broader — interception, monitoring, and decryption of digital information “for the investigation of an offense”.

Concerns over the bill :

• Regulatory overlaps:The broad definition of ‘telecommunication services’ include OTT communication platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal among others, which may potentially lead to regulatory or jurisdictional overlaps.
• Unchecked use of State powers:The Bill gives broad powers to the central government in prescribed situations without any accompanying checks and balances. The Bill empowers the central and state government to intercept messages in the interest of public safety and emergency without providing clearly defined guardrails for it.
• Undefined National security: The term, national security is left undefined and does not match constitutional precedent or text which instead uses the phrase,in the interests of the security of state
• Power to prescribe standards under Clause 23, which may result in regulations as recently issued by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) that have resulted in the closure of servers or services by leading, global VPN providers such as Proton and TunnelBear.

Net Neutrality : 

• Net Neutrality is a principle, which states that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally and there should be no discrimination by Telecommunication companies/Internet Service Providers.
• The service providers should not differentiate this service with different forms and categories of traffic on the internet.

TRAI :

• The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was established with effect from February 20, 1997, by an Act of Parliament, called the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997.
•  It was established to regulate telecom services, including fixation/revision of tariffs for telecom services which were earlier vested in the Central Government.

Need a Re-Examination?

       There shall be an evaluation and introduction of necessary changes :

• Strike a balance between decentralizing regulatory powers while ensuring adequate powers to TRAI. TRAI should have independent powers from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
• OTTs should have a different and more relaxed regulatory regime than TSPs, in order to promote innovation.
• Citizens’ privacy, whether e over TSPs or OTTs, must be respected. The principles of data anonymisation, data encryption and data pseudonymisation etc must be followed.
• The new IT rules, 2021 should be changed to prevent traceability requirements.
• Suspension of net services must be only in select stringent criteria-based conditions over which independent judicial oversight should be provided.
• Introduce net neutrality provisions explicitly in the new bill.