The Indian government’s Ministry of Communications has released the draft of the Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, to revamp the legal framework for governing the telecom sector and make it “future-ready”. The ministry will be accepting comments on the bill till October 20, 2022. One can send their comments to the following email address— naveen.kumar71@gov.in. There were signs that the government was working on a new framework after it released a consultation paper in July 2022. You can read Medianama’s summary of the paper here. Why it matters: The bill addresses some of the issues, flagged by the telecom industry in the past, by modernising the regulatory framework. The fund is significant as it can address the problem of ensuring delivery of universal telecom access to rural and urban areas which are not covered by the network. It is also likely to promote research and development of new technologies, among other things. Overhaul of Universal Service Obligation Fund The bill states that the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), created under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, will be known as the “Telecommunication Development Fund (TDF)”. The fund will be managed by the Union Government. What was the USOF: The fund was established to meet the “universal service obligation” which was to provide “telegraph access to people in rural and remote areas at affordable and reasonable prices”, according to the explainer note provided by the ministry. What are the revised objectives: The bill has also expanded the ambit of the fund’s objectives. It…
