{"id":20496,"date":"2024-01-12T17:12:49","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T11:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=20496"},"modified":"2024-08-30T17:18:59","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T11:48:59","slug":"telecommunications-act-2023-key-aspects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/editorial-analysis\/12-01-2024\/telecommunications-act-2023-key-aspects","title":{"rendered":"Telecommunications Act, 2023: Key Aspects\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS 2\/Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Parliament passed the Telecommunications Act, 2023 to reform the country&#8217;s century-old telecom law.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About Telecommunication Act 2023<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It replaced the<strong> Indian Telegraph Act, 1885<\/strong>, the <strong>Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933,<\/strong> and <strong>the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It lays down provisions that the central <strong>government will provide authorisation<\/strong> for telecom-related activities and assign spectrum.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&nbsp;It also mandates that the<strong> procedure and safeguards<\/strong> related to interception will be prescribed by the Central Government.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Provision of stringent punishment has been made for violators, which ranges from <strong>three years jail to a punishment <\/strong>of <strong>upto 50 lakh rupees.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There has been provision of an effective grievance redressal mechanism which is digital by design.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It lays down a statutory framework to expedite the process of obtaining the right of way.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This provision is poised to enhance faster connectivity and last-mile deployments, thereby improving high-speed fixed broadband access.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Significance\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It focuses on <strong>user protection<\/strong>, reforms on right of way and optimal utilisation of spectrum.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It ensures<strong> highest priority<\/strong> to user protection and it would curb the cases of impersonation and issuance of SIMs by fraudulent means.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is providing <strong>flexibility for allocation of spectrum<\/strong>, mechanisms for improving right of way and building common ducts and cable corridors, expanding the application of USOF (now Digital Bharat Nidhi) and improving fund utilisation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is aimed&nbsp; to<strong> modernize India&#8217;s regulatory framework <\/strong>in the digital age, which would empower the Centre to establish rules for the protection of telecommunication networks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It will ensure a <strong>transparent auction of spectrum <\/strong>which is very important for the telecom sector.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It holds the potential to streamline regulations, facilitate infrastructure development, and usher in an era of technological advancement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Issues and Concerns\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&nbsp;The broad interception powers granted to the state without adequate judicial safeguards raise red flags.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&nbsp;The ability to decrypt encrypted messages, the lack of clear guidelines on data retention, and the potential for misuse of<strong> biometric identification pose<\/strong> threats to<strong> civil liberties<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It gives the government unfettered power that<strong> can infringe on citizen privacy with little or no accountability for governing officers.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Act\u2019s section on Powers of Authorisation and Assignment rightly provides for technology neutrality of spectrum use, but does not reflect the same in the delivery of communication services.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It does not specify procedural safeguards with respect to powers to search premises and vehicles.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In a world the <strong>functional distinction<\/strong> between telcos and over-the-top services is blurring.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Functional separation<\/strong> has been used as a regulatory remedy by many countries to address market concentration. Some common examples include Sweden, UK, Australia, Ireland and Poland.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The remedies when disproportionate can lead to counterproductive outcomes including lower investments and lower innovation.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion and Way Forward\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Telecommunication sector is a key driver of economic and social development.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is the gateway to digital services. Security of a country is vitally dependent on safety of telecommunication networks.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Therefore, there is a need for the right <strong>legal and regulatory framework<\/strong> that focuses on a safe and secure telecommunication network that provides for digitally inclusive growth.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is important that users\u2019 sensitive personal information is not misused by any entity in the data processing Lifecycle<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is important that <strong>any new player in the services <\/strong>market has <strong>non-discriminatory<\/strong> and <strong>non-exclusive access<\/strong> to infrastructure on a commercial basis for it to compete against integrated entities.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A unified vision of the government of India should bring synergies in licensing, standards, skilling and governance across different departments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Mains Practise Question&nbsp;<\/strong><br><\/span><strong>[Q] <\/strong>Do you agree with the view that the Telecommunications Act, 2023 is a repackaged version of the colonial Law? Give&nbsp;reasons in support of your answer.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width-75\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/previous-year-upsc-mains-papers?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=utm_blog_pyqmains\">Check UPSC Mains Previous Year Papers<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Daily-Editorial-Analysis-12-01-2024.pdf\">Download PDF<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parliament passed the Telecommunications Act , 2023 to reform the country&#8217;s century-old telecom law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-analysis"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20496"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28555,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20496\/revisions\/28555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}