(a) whether the Government proposes to revisit archaic laws including the Telegraph Act, 1885 and the rules and regulations in the National Telecom Policy to ease business environment in the telecom sector;
(b) if so, whether the Union Government has set up a committee to re-examine these laws, clauses and guidelines;
(c) if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the time by which the final decision is likely to be taken in this regard?
THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a) Government is contemplating a new legislative framework to regulate the communication sector replacing the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885; Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act, 1997.
(b) & (c) An Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), comprising representatives from Department of Telecommunications, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Ministry of Home Affairs, has been constituted to work out details of the draft Communication Bill.
(d) The framework of the draft Communication Bill is under consideration of the IMG. It is difficult to specify a time by which the IMG is likely to finalise the Bill.