According to sources, the government is preparing to introduce the new telecommunications bill in the monsoon session of parliament later in 2023, with a revised draft ready after inter-ministerial and public consultation.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sorted out issues around the possible dilution of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) powers and potential domain overlap with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Further, the draft will also propose light-touch regulation for over-the-top (OTT) communication apps from the perspective of national security and consumer safety and not from a revenue generation viewpoint. While OTT communication apps would be regulated, it would not be on the lines of telecom operators wherein they have to pay licence fee and other charges. In the revised draft, DoT will tweak the language to define OTT apps.
