abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
REGULATORY PROBLEMS
The Indian scenario is further compounded by the problem of repeated regulatory instability. The Telecom Regulator – TRAI – came into existence only in 1997. The Act had to be amended in 1999 as TRAI and Department of Telecom entered into serious turf wars. No sooner has the regulatory scene assumed any degree of stability, we now have a new Convergence Bill. If it passes and becomes an Act, it is likely to see a number of legal challenges, throwing the regulatory regime into a further state of flux. What passes all understanding is why is there a need for an Act that no one has asked for.
The cellular telecom operators are unhappy with the TRAI; this cannot be a reason to throw out the TRAI Act, unless the motive is to throw out the current set of regulators while constituting the new Communications Commission. It is possible that the operators have such narrow interests. But why should the government contemplate a change when the current telecom policy regime – the NTP 99 – has been introduced only in 1999? Or are we to conclude that the Group on Telecom that produced the NTP 99 botched up the job so completely that it did not even address such basic questions as convergence?
The Internet related services are even more problematic. Currently, only Internet service providers are licensed and that also very lightly. The rates, quality standards, content have all been left outside the purview of any regulation. Of course, the laws of the land apply to such material in any case: use of Internet for criminal purposes, obscenity law and law of libel applies on any Internet site.
The policing of such sites are not easy. For instance, child pornographers are using the Internet and as these sites move from country to country, it needs cross-border co-operation to stop such activities. Similarly, hate literature of racist or communal variety can be circulated over the Internet and hosted on sites in countries that have no restriction against them. For instance, a number of neo-nazi groups use the US for hosting their sites as it does not ban such material unlike European countries and Canada, all of whom have stringent punishment for "hate literature". In spite of this, the Internet is relatively free of policing, primarily as it is not a broadcast medium.
The Convergence Bill seeks to bring Internet services under its ambit in two ways. One way is to regulate it through content. It explicitly lays down policing the Internet as one of the objectives of the Bill.
The second is to bring all services offered through the Internet or the telecommunications network under licensing, unless exempted specifically. The Bill claims that a list of exemptions will be made available along with the Bill. There are two aspects to these so-called exemptions. Every time a new service appears -- and Internet is introducing a variety of new services every day -- they will require special exemptions, delaying their introduction.
The second is which agency will issue such exemptions. From the reading of the Bill, it is nowhere made clear which is the agency that will issue such exemptions. It is not clear why the alternate method of identifying the services that require licenses have not been considered. Presumably, in one case the Parliament will decide which services will require licenses, while in the current form, probably the government will notify such exemptions.
The Indian scenario is further compounded by the problem of repeated regulatory instability. The Telecom Regulator – TRAI – came into existence only in 1997. The Act had to be amended in 1999 as TRAI and Department of Telecom entered into serious turf wars. No sooner has the regulatory scene assumed any degree of stability, we now have a new Convergence Bill. If it passes and becomes an Act, it is likely to see a number of legal challenges, throwing the regulatory regime into a further state of flux. What passes all understanding is why is there a need for an Act that no one has asked for.
The cellular telecom operators are unhappy with the TRAI; this cannot be a reason to throw out the TRAI Act, unless the motive is to throw out the current set of regulators while constituting the new Communications Commission. It is possible that the operators have such narrow interests. But why should the government contemplate a change when the current telecom policy regime – the NTP 99 – has been introduced only in 1999? Or are we to conclude that the Group on Telecom that produced the NTP 99 botched up the job so completely that it did not even address such basic questions as convergence?
The Internet related services are even more problematic. Currently, only Internet service providers are licensed and that also very lightly. The rates, quality standards, content have all been left outside the purview of any regulation. Of course, the laws of the land apply to such material in any case: use of Internet for criminal purposes, obscenity law and law of libel applies on any Internet site.
The policing of such sites are not easy. For instance, child pornographers are using the Internet and as these sites move from country to country, it needs cross-border co-operation to stop such activities. Similarly, hate literature of racist or communal variety can be circulated over the Internet and hosted on sites in countries that have no restriction against them. For instance, a number of neo-nazi groups use the US for hosting their sites as it does not ban such material unlike European countries and Canada, all of whom have stringent punishment for "hate literature". In spite of this, the Internet is relatively free of policing, primarily as it is not a broadcast medium.
The Convergence Bill seeks to bring Internet services under its ambit in two ways. One way is to regulate it through content. It explicitly lays down policing the Internet as one of the objectives of the Bill.
The second is to bring all services offered through the Internet or the telecommunications network under licensing, unless exempted specifically. The Bill claims that a list of exemptions will be made available along with the Bill. There are two aspects to these so-called exemptions. Every time a new service appears -- and Internet is introducing a variety of new services every day -- they will require special exemptions, delaying their introduction.
The second is which agency will issue such exemptions. From the reading of the Bill, it is nowhere made clear which is the agency that will issue such exemptions. It is not clear why the alternate method of identifying the services that require licenses have not been considered. Presumably, in one case the Parliament will decide which services will require licenses, while in the current form, probably the government will notify such exemptions.