DoT mulls legislative overhaul before 5G launch

India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has reportedly proposed replacing the nation’s telecom legislation with new rules that are more in line with current developments in the sector, Mint writes, citing senior officials. The ministry is looking to replace the Indian Telegraph Act (1885) and the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act (1933) before the launch of 5G, with a view to addressing gaps in the legislation that could hamper the adoption of 5G. DoT Secretary Anshu Prakash was quoted as saying that the government has tasked the National Law University (NLU), Delhi, with studying the Acts and suggesting potential changes: ‘Most importantly, the new legislation will require provisions that relate to M2M communication and IoT. The current legislation regulates the interface of persons with each other and with machines. However, for interfaces between a machine and machine, there are gaps.’ Alongside M2M/IoT, the DoT has identified several other issues that should be addressed by the new legislation, including net neutrality and consumer rights. The official added that the NLU team is also working on draft laws for telecom infrastructure and right of way (RoW) rules for network development, whilst matters such as spectrum allocation and security requirements – including vendor management and authentication for access to sensitive information and systems and – may also be addressed by the legislative changes.