The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has notified the new cybersecurity rules, and they give the government power to look into the traffic data of the telcos. Whether it is text message content or any other traffic data, the government will get access to it when it wants to in the context of national security. These rules are empowered by the new Telecom Act. As per an ET report, traffic here means any information which is generated transmitted, received or stored in telecom networks.
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The government can get access to data such as routing, duration, and or the time of communication. This increases the compliance burden for the telecom service providers. At the same time, it gives the central government deep access to the privacy of the citizens, of course, again in the context of national security.
The new cybersecurity norms are aimed at letting the government have access to private communication between parties/traffic which is deemed a threat to national security. There are telecom industry executives and legal experts who have raised concerns about this as it opens the opportunity for privacy breaches for the consumers/citizens of the country.
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In other developments, the union cabinet has approved the request by the DoT to waive bank guarantees (BGs) for spectrum acquired since 2012. This will help the telecom operators get a better handle on their cash flow and finances. Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) will be the largest benefactor from this move as the telco was supposed to furnish Rs 24,000 crore worth of BGs, and now it won't need to. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio will also benefit from this, of course.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has also asked the telecom operators to publish network coverage maps in their official websites for the consumers to understand where they will get 2G/3G/4G/5G network coverage.
