Telecom Bill in current form may trigger DoT-I&B tussle: Experts

The draft Telecom Bill, if implemented in its current form, is likely to create unnecessary overlap, and result in a turf war between the department of telecom and the information & broadcasting ministry, feel experts.

The broadcasters are concerned with some of the clauses, which they feel are based on “flawed premises”.

“The draft unfortunately appears to be framed on a flawed understanding,” said a senior industry executive. “It assumes scarcity of spectrum across all the range of services and based on this assumption, prescribes auctioning as the primary method of dispensation. It mistakenly terms various services as “telecommunication services” whether such services use spectrum or not. This basis being flawed is naturally bound to lead to flawed legislative application and in turn sub-serve public interest as opposed to further it.” Incidentally, the explanatory statements issued so far do not identify any factual data nor economic rationale for any of the concerns either therefore giving no opportunity to engage meaningfully on the premise, the industry insiders say.


Specific to the broadcasting sector, one top executive said that while usage of scarce spectrum may be the case for telecom operators, who require exclusive access to the limited ‘terrestrial spectrum’, it seeks to force-fit broadcasting, which does not avail any exclusive access to such scarce spectrum, within the same fold as telcos.

Meanwhile, the I&B ministry is planning to send its comments on the draft, seeking clarity from the department of telecom on the inclusion of OTTs and certain broadcast-specific aspects such as DTH in the bill that is open for public comments now.