OTT Exclusion Confirmed: The Indian government presented a new bill earlier this week to replace three old rules that controlled telecommunications in the country. There were no references to over-the-top (OTT) communication services in the bill, but some businesses were worried that the GoI might use it to try to control Internet apps.
Now, India’s Minister of Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has said that the new telecom bill does not cover over-the-top (OTT) services. Additionally, he made it abundantly clear that the IT Act of 2000 controls the OTT and will continue to do so.
OTT Exclusion Confirmed: Telecom Bill Omits Certain Apps, Says Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw
In case of a threat to national security, the new telecom bill gives the government the power to shut down any internet service in the country. However, the bill only talks about “telecom services” and doesn’t make it clear which companies can be shut down.
OTT services include messenger apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and others that let you talk to people over the internet. In some cases, though, they can also be thought of as communications services because they let people talk to each other. Because of this, businesses like Meta were concerned that the new telecom bill might allow the government to turn off services for web-based apps.
OTT services can breathe a sigh of relief after Mr. Vaishnaw’s explanation. The new telecom bill does not change how these apps are regulated in the country, so this is good news.
It’s also important to know that the Indian IT Act of 2000, which controls OTT services at the moment, can also shut down any digital service in the country. As long as it’s for public safety, section 69A of the IT Act lets the Government of India limit public access to any service. Even though India’s new telecom bill doesn’t add any new rules to over-the-top (OTT) services, they still need to follow the IT Act or risk being shut down.
Each house of Parliament has agreed to the Telecom Bill of 2023. Now it’s just waiting for the President of India to sign off on it. Once that happens, the bill will become law.
