The telecommunications bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha, raises more privacy concerns than providing assurances about the growth of the sector. More alarming among them is a provision that enables government agencies to take over, manage or suspend telecom services for national security reasons. The proposed legislation also empowers the government to take steps such as waiving entry fees, licence fees or imposing penalties to maintain competition in the telecom sector. There are also concerns over a clause that speaks about the government’s power to take “temporary possession” of the mobile and internet networks. Suspending the internet may have by now become a routine affair, but taking control of a network, even if temporarily, fundamentally changes the dynamics. This looks like another step to curtail democratic rights of the people. This government is going to any extent to control every sphere of the lives of the people.
Resorting to surveillance and shutdowns as the standard operating procedure is prone to misuse and overreach. The bill, which seeks to rewrite the 138-year-old Telegraph Act governing the telecom sector, has proposed that the government should be given the right to administratively allocate satellite spectrum. Till now, telecom companies have taken part in auctions and have presented bids to win the spectrum. The government must spell out why it considers the non-auction route to be the way forward. Some would argue that allocating the spectrum for satellite communications by the administrative method could help India align itself with international standards and promote global cooperation.