Law for a new era

Telecommunications Bill addresses several gaps

The introduction of the Telecommunications Bill, 2023, in the Lok Sabha, to replace the telegraph law framed more than a century ago, is a welcome development. The telecom sector, in the midst of financial stress and threat of a possible duopoly, is expected to get a fresh lease of life with the changes proposed in the new Bill. The Union government has ushered in a series of reforms through the legislation. The biggest change in the Bill makes room for allocation of spectrum on administered pricing wherever necessary, including in the case of satellite broadband services, instead of a universal