New Delhi: The draft India<\/a>n Telecommunication Bill 2022 is overbroad and will impose extensive licensing burden, hurt cross-border digital trade, hamper India<\/a>'s economic growth, and constrain innovation, several industry bodies have said in a joint statement.
The statement signed by App Association, Asia Internet Coalition, Computer and Communications Industry Association, Information Technology Industry Council<\/a>, India Cellular and Electronics Association<\/a>, and other global technology and content industry associations recommended narrowing the broad definitions of telecom services and equipment.
The draft bill, up for public consultation till Thursday, seeks to expand the definition of telecom services to include over-the-top (OTT<\/a>) communication services such as WhatsApp, Signal, and email providers like Gmail, requiring them to do KYC<\/a> (know your customer) of their users.
“While we appreciate the intention of creating a ‘future-ready’ framework, the addition of communication services in this definition will hamper the upcoming innovations taking place in smart IoT (internet of things) devices,” the joint statement issued on Thursday said.
It also recommended excluding customer equipment and software from the definition of telecommunications equipment as they are already regulated by the electronics and IT ministry (MeitY).
“Instituting additional regulations on these devices will create a considerable compliance burden, leading to barriers to innovation and faster technology adoption – impacting a fast-growing and fledgling sector,” it read.
Industry stakeholders that signed the statement have called for further deliberations and consideration to fully assess the draft bill, given its wide-ranging implications.
Washington-based Information Technology Industry Council<\/a> (ITI) said the draft bill will unintentionally limit the ease of doing business<\/a> in India, negatively impact cross-border digital trade, hamper India's economic growth, and constrain innovation.
It called for narrowing the definition of telecommunication infrastructure to specifically cover telecommunication infrastructure used to provide telecommunication services. “Infrastructure used for the building and operations of a data centre may also be excluded from the definition of telecommunication infrastructure,” ITI said.
Internet Society, an international non-profit organisation that handles internet standards, said the bill will severely impact digital economy and the GDP of the country, subject millions of users to greater risk of harm, and jeopardise security of individuals and e-businesses.
It said licensing requirements will disproportionately impact smaller, cash-strapped platforms and startups, which would need to spend crucial resources in complying with the bill.
<\/p>
![\"OTT](\"\/Themes\/Release\/images\/responsive\/ettelecom-default.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>