Ministry Favours Single Regulator One Licensing Regulator Favoured Proposed

The ministry for information and broadcasting has proposed that there be one unified regulatory authority for licensing and other related issues for the infotech, broadcasting and telecom sectors.

This proposal is part of the comprehensive recommendations prepared by the ministry for the consideration of the Fali Nariman Committee, which has been asked to draft a law on convergence, tentatively being called the Communications Bill.

The rationale behind this is that in an era of convergence the responsibility of granting licences and other such related issues should be vested in a single authority.

The I&B ministry, which has also taken into account the issues in the telecom and infotech sectors, has also suggested

 

that in the comprehensive Communications Bill there be enabling powers for various services like (KU-band) direct-to-home (DTH), Internet, etc.

A senior government official yesterday confirmed to Business Standard that the I&B ministry, in its recommendations to the Nariman Committee on convergence, has proposed a unified and common regulatory authority which can be called the Communications Authority of India.

By including the enabling powers in the proposed Bill, the government will be able to retain the right to notify services that can be licensed in the three sectors.

This in effect means, as per the I&B ministry's perception, the passage of the Bill will not ensure automatic granting of licence by the regulatory authority to, for example, make DTH services accessible in India.

The government official also clarified that the IT Bill, passed by Parliament, has nothing to do with the proposed Communications Bill.

However, the Nariman Committee in one of its meetings is likely to make some changes to the recommendations of the I&B ministry.

For example, the government official pointed out, the committee members were of the opinion that the government should notify the services that cannot be notified instead of notifying the ones that can be.

The ministry's suggestions also dwell on enforcement of the law and setting of standards apart from the licensing and other related issues.

But it is to the credit of the I&B ministry that after spending about four months on the proposed Broadcasting Bill, it changed course to encompass the telecom and infotech sectors for a comprehensive recommendation for the Nariman Committee in a very short time.

The Communications Bill is expected to be tabled during the monsoon session of Parliament.

The committee, headed by noted jurist Nariman, comprises the secretaries of ministries of information and broadcasting, telecommunications and information technology.