"There is no justification regarding the exceptional reasons or circumstances for the [Telecom Regulatory Authority of India] stepping into the jurisdiction of MeitY," multiple industry associations wrote to telecom secretary Anshu Prakash on October 9 in a joint letter opposing further regulation of the cloud services industry. MediaNama has viewed and verified the authenticity of the letter. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recommended in September that cloud service companies such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and IBM should be required to join an industry association created by the Department of Telecommunications. Industry associations and cloud companies pushed back, arguing that the recommendations were without precedent and overbearing. The letter to Prakash was signed by the Cellular Operators Association of India, Nasscom, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), the Association of Competitive Telecom Operators, BSA: The Software Alliance, the Asia Cloud Computing Association, and the Asia Internet Coalition. All seven associations either have cloud service providers as members, or telecom operators who work with cloud service providers. Cloud companies not under DoT remit The letter, which reiterates arguments cloud providers (CSPs) and their associations have made before, argues that cloud companies don't fall under the regulatory purview of the Department of Telecommunications. The Allocation of Business Rules of the government of India, which lay out which ministries and departments are tasked with what governance duties, give MEITY regulatory remit over cloud companies, the industry associations argued. "there is no justification regarding the exceptional reasons or circumstances for the regulator…
