THE WRONG CALL

The Bill is certainly timely considering that technologies in telecommunications have experienced a huge transformation in recent years. However, it lacks a vision for the future

- Shivanand Pandit

THE government published the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, in September 2022. However, it fails to set free the colonial moorings that have formed the rules around telecommunications in India for the previous century. The Telecom Bill released by the Department of Telecommunication under the Ministry of Communication seeks to substitute three prevailing statutes, such as the Indian Telegraph Act of 1885, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1933, and The Telegraph Wire (Unlawful Possession) Act, of 1950.

The Bill follows the publicization of the discussion paper, "Need for a new legal framework governing Telecommunication in India", released in July 2022. The Bill provides that all the rules, guidelines and administrative orders made under the abovementioned Acts and which are not inconsistent

with the present Bill shall be deemed to be made under the proposed Bill. In conjunction with revoking three Acts, the Bill shall also be amending several provisions of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997.

Technologies in telecommunications have experienced a transformation since the telegraphs of the colonial age. As the imperial period's technologies have radically changed, the Bill eliminates outdated terms such as "telegraph" and "telegraph officer" and replaces them with phrases appropriate to the modern-day realities like "telecommunication", "telecommunication network", and "telecommunication service". The Bill also takes cues and inspiration from the comparable statutes in other jurisdictions, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, Singapore and Japan.