India's union telecom and IT minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has made his stance on OTT (over-the-top) players clear. The tech players (including the OTT companies) were scared of the initial draft of the Telecom Bill 2023 because it included regulation of OTT. Here the regulation would have meant OTT companies having to share info with the government as and when requested in the interest of national security. However, the Telecom Bill 2023 that passed recently doesn't include the regulation of OTT.
Talking to ET, Vaishnaw said that the government is currently not looking to regulate OTT under the telecom bill. OTT is regulated in India under the IT Act of 2000 and it will continue to be that way.
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Even after the new telecom bill that doesn't include the regulation of OTT, some tech players such as Meta were concerned that the terms used under the bill are broad and the government, whenever it wished, could also regulate OTT companies under the telecom bill in the future. Hearing the words of Vaishnaw will give comfort to the OTT players who drive most of the internet traffic in the country.
Since the OTT players are regulated under the IT Act 2000, the companies can relax as it won't change overnight or in the near future. The government earlier planned to regulate OTT communication players such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, and more because all of these apps are used for essential communication. The thought of being regulated under the Telecom Bill 2023 was very uncomfortable for the OTT companies.
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The new bill has passed and the provisions are not against the OTT players, but with them. Further, the bill also clarifies that the government can now allocate spectrum in an administrative basis to the satellite companies.
