By Ritika Jain
The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed the Telecommunications Bill, 2023 even as Opposition MPs remain suspended. The BJP, which is the ruling party at the Centre, ploughed ahead with bills even as at least 143 opposition MPs have been suspended from both houses for the remainder of the Winter Session.
Owing to the thin presence of the Opposition, the Rajya Sabha MPs debated the bill for a mere hour, while the Lok Sabha MPs debated the bill for just over an hour on Wednesday before passing it on December 20. At least 97 Opposition MPs have been suspended from the lower house.
The Telecommunications Bill, 2023 replaces the colonial era laws like the Indian Telegraph Act of 1885, and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1933 along with the post-independence law – the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act of 1950.
Union Minister for Information and Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw introduced the bill in the lower house on December 18. Despite being drafted after several rounds of consultation, the telecom bill has faced criticism from various stakeholders, critics, and members of the civil rights society.
The ambiguous definition of what constitutes a telecom company has caused much consternation. At Digital Dialogues, an event organised by DigiPub* – a consortium of online news organizations, panelists that included lawyers and journalists discussed concerns over the selective application of the Telecom Bill, 2023 along with other laws to target government critics.
*BOOM is a part of the DigiPub.
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What will the Telecommunications Bill do?
The assumption of control over telecom companies and services during national emergencies or in the interest of public safety is one of the most important aspects of the Telecom Bill, 2023. The bill, which retains provisions of the 153-year-old Telegraph Act also provides for interception and surveillance of communications.
“On the occurrence of any public emergency, including disaster management, or in the interest of public safety, the central government or a state government or any officer specially authorised on behalf by the central government or a state government, if satisfied that it is necessary or expedient so to do, by notification-take temporary possession of any telecommunication service or telecommunication network from an authorised entity,” the bill read.
The bill further mandates biometric authentication for telecom users. Impersonation of a user to obtain a new sim card carries heavy penalties, Vaishnaw had said in the parliament.
Another key aspect of this bill deals with the complete overhaul of the law to account for the expansion, development, and services in the telecommunications sector. BOOM looked at the new bill, which replaces the colonial era law, and saw that it is up to date and makes provisions for new and evolving technology.
While auctions for spectrums will continue to remain the norm, the new law simplifies and consolidates the process and licenses. However, the government also reserves the right to the administrative allocation of spectrum for sectors like defence, metro rails, community radio, police, railways, etc.
Moreover, through this bill, the government can reclaim unused spectrum. The bill also allows for sharing, trading, and leasing of spectrum.
Also Read: CEIR: Tracking Lost Mobiles Made Easy, But Privacy Concerns Linger
Concerns for privacy, govt excess in new Telecom Bill: Critics
Critics and members of civil rights society have raised alarm over the passage of this bill. The 2023 bill retains provisions of the Telegraph Act which deal with interception and surveillance of telecommunications.
Speaking at an event held on December 20, panelists argued that the ambiguous definition of what or who constitutes a telecom company means that there is no difference between a journalist and a content creator. The lines are blurred, author Meghnad S argued.
Meghnad said the clause that authorizes government officials to raid and seize equipment is cause for worry. “For smaller journalists and content creators, their literal bread and butter can be taken away without any notice,” he said.
Even as the discussion was on, the law was passed in the parliament.
The broad definition of the new bill allows for memes, satire, columnists, messages in WhatsApp communities, etc to be included in the purview of the law.
Researcher Srinivas Kodalli argued that the new law is “extremely draconian”.
“The Bill is creating a new authorisation regime, where any telecommunication service would have to apply for authorisation to operate in India. With the wide definition of telecommunication and messages, this will ideally apply to every social media application out there – WhatsApp, Facebook, X, Instagram, etc. This Bill essentially brings a license regime to the internet. Services not complying with the law could be likely to be blocked or banned in India, like TikTok was,” Kodalli wrote in TheWire.
