The draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 (Telecom Bill) — published for public consultation on September 21, 2022 — aims to create a legal framework attuned to the realities of the 21st century to ensure India’s socio-economic development. This Telecom Bill follows the release of the consultation paper, “Need for a new legal framework governing Telecommunication in India”, which was published on July 23, 2022. However, it fails to let go of the colonial moorings that have shaped the law around telecommunications in India for the past century.
A repackaging
Instead, it represents multiple squandered opportunities for significant legislative reform. The Telecom Bill misses the opportunity for the democratisation of telecommunication services. Now, it has preferred a move towards centralisation of power through its new licensing regime. Here, the Telecom Bill also fails to inculcate the learnings evolved in courts and other institutions of authority, and instead repackages the provisions from pre-Independence laws to pass them off as legislative advancements. This is in lieu of enacting sweeping legislative reform which would cement user rights as the cornerstone of the Indian telecommunication sector.
