The telecom industry has reportedly raised concerns regarding new Digital Personal Data Protection Act, including the fact that the age gating provision as a validation mechanism lacks specifics, and is seeking two years’ time for its implementations. Telecom operators have reported that for conventional consent-taking methods like customer acquisition form (CAF), a person provides consent with know your customer (KYC) details. However, the same cannot be applied in an internet-driven consent mechanism. Whilst there are methods for validating the age of a person, it needs to be further clarified and provisions should be added in the act.
Meanwhile, there are other issues like grievance redress ad languages that also require clarification. The telcos are deliberating on all the aspects of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, and plan on writing to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on issues requiring clarifications. The industry feels that a two year timeframe should be given to them for implementing various provisions of the Act.
Further, industry experts feel clarity around provisions of the act, as telcos are no longer pure-play network pipe providers as they offer a host of services and applications that require data processing. The compliance cost for telecom firms are also set to increase with them playing dual roles of data processors and data fiduciaries.
