The telecom regulator is in favour of bringing the telecommunication, technology and broadcasting ministries under one umbrella body for ease of work.
Other countries have also made similar moves of convergence. It can help to resolve some of the overlaps in these sectors. This includes overlaps between telecom service providers and app-based providers, as well as the regulatory responsibility for OTT channels, among other issues.
Earlier in March, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology in its eleventh report had asked the government to consider bringing the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) under one umbrella for better coordination for issues emerging due to convergence of technologies.
Single policies
Already industry players like the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) have voiced support for the idea stating that such a move will lead to a focused handling of issues, and formulation of single policies that are equally applicable to all concerned ministries.
Aside from the Ministry convergence, the Standing Committee report also suggested a Media Council that would bring all forms of media like print, broadcast, digital, etc. under one umbrella for better coordination and implementation of laws.
However, broadcasting industry seem to have reservation against a converged policy framework. “With a converged regulator for ICT and broadcasting, there is always the risk of “false equivalence” being drawn between the two sectors… Telecommunication principles should never be applied when issues related to content are being determined,” said an executive of a broadcast company.
In a 2023 paper, TRAI had said that disparate policy structures for telecom and broadcasting cause governance challenges like multiple licence/permission authorities for the same converged service, lack of regulatory clarity on the outcomes of converged technologies (e.g., OTT), and demarcated administration of the converged digital services. The Hindu BusinessLine