The government will continue with the existing provisions of the TRAI Act, Union Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed Economic Times. The Draft Indian Telecommunications Bill, 2022 released in September proposed to remove certain provisions, including some from Section 11(1) of the TRAI Act under which TRAI could make recommendations on subjects such as licensing terms and conditions. To better understand how the draft telecom bill impacted TRAI, you can read this analysis. Why it matters: Experts raised concerns that the draft telecom bill would reduce TRAI's powers in regulating the telecommunication industry. Telecom expert Mahesh Uppal had told Medianama that TRAI "was meant to be a statutory, independent and specialist body. Its role in licensing was considered extremely important. It is the norm internationally that regulators play a key role in issues around market entry and exit. It’s sensible that the regulator has a say in the entry of players that it will regulate”. The Broadband India Forum said, the bill proposes to “take away TRAI’s statutory independence by deleting provisions that enable proper checks and balances” in a statement, according to Economic Times (ET). More on Ashwini Vaishnaw's recent comments, based on this ET interview: TRAI to retain its recommending powers: Although the minister said TRAI will continue to enjoy the existing powers, he said the intent of the government behind removing certain provisions of the TRAI act was to reduce the shuffling back and forth between TRAI and DoT. He also said TRAI needs more punitive and enforcement powers and…
