NEW DELHI: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will soon send the Telecommunication Bill 2022 for inter ministerial consultation. The DoT believes that the bill will get clearance from the ministries within a fortnight so that it can be tabled in parliament in this monsoon session.
“As we have already deliberated a lot about the Telecommunication Bill with the concerned ministries, therefore, it is unlikely that the inter ministerial consultation will take much time. Most of them have already given feedback and comments on the bill, and we have considered all those inputs,” said an official of DoT.
The government is planning to introduce the new Telecom Bill in the monsoon session of parliament. The bill will replace three existing laws -- the Indian Telegraph Act, 1855, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933, and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950.
Once it gets clearance from inter-ministerial consultation, it will be presented in parliament. The telecom bill proposes light regulation for over-the-top (OTT) communication apps such as WhatsApp and Signal. Initially the bill faced few hiccups as it had issues like possible dilution of the powers of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. However, the officials later clarified that they would amend that provision from the bill.