Tag: Department of Telecommunication

India To Roll Out 5G Internet By 2020

India is planning to roll out 5G internet services by the year 2020. In order to complete this task successfully, the government has set up a high-level forum which will evaluate all possible roadmaps to make sure that 5G internet becomes prominent in the country. For the said objective, the ministries of telecom, information and technology, and science and technology have been included in the forum. A budget of Rs 500 crore is set aside for research and development of 5G technology by the government.

The minister of State for Communications Manoj Sinha said:

We missed the opportunity to participate when the standards were being set for 3G and 4G, but don’t want to miss the 5G opportunity. Now when the standards are being set for 5G across the world, India will also participate in the process. As per the OECD Committee on Digital Economic Policy, it has been stated that 5G technologies rollout will help in increasing GDP, creating employment, and digitising the economy.

Apart from the government, Indian telcos such as Airtel are also actively taking initiatives toward the 5G technology. Airtel on 26th September launched a mimo, a pre-5G technology, producing internet browsing speeds three times higher than the current levels. State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. along with Airtel have also signed initial pacts with smartphone makers such as Nokia for the development of 5G and its applications which are relevant to India.

India was slow to jump aboard the 3G and 4G train. Even currently, the 4G technology adoption is at a nascent stage whereas a lot of countries have adopted 4G and even 3G has become a secondary internet technology. In order not to lose out on the 5G hype, India is planning to hold auction for 5G spectrums. While a part of the government back an early sale of 5G airwaves, the telecom industry wants it to be sold only post 2018, citing the lack advanced ecosystem around the technology as the main reason. The industry also believes that India will get 5G only around 2021-2022.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which will finalise the standards for 5G mobile technology proposed the downlink peak rate for 5G at 20 gigabits (or 20,000 megabits) per second. These speeds however, cannot be ascertained yet since the technology is yet to be deployed.

A country where even 4G speeds at the moment are underwhelming and network speed throttling is a major issue, 5G technology becoming a regular for consumers seem like an overkill or a distant dream. But, the forum setup by the government includes all the important bodies necessary to make 5G technology a relevant dream in the future. The high-level forum will work towards accelerated deployment of 5G for specific use cases in India, and these will include development of roadmap related to emerging technologies, testing, and trials.

Manoj Sinha has said that India is “We are open to collaboration” with countries who have set up a similar forum. This early resilience shown by the government is definitely a positive sign and a step in the right direction.

October 2, 2017
Apple And TRAI Fight Over Privacy Data Of Users

Apple and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) are fighting over the user data that iPhone users in India have on their phone. TRAI argues that no smartphone company should be a guardian of the user data of its smartphones and should share it with apps that require that data to function. Apple has indicated that it believed the TRAI app is a potential risk to its user’s privacy.

TRAI has an anti-spamming app which blocks the numbers reported by the users and then launches a strict action against the number. The app is readily available to Android users, albeit poor customer reviews. TRAI Chairman R S Sharma publically slammed Apple a few weeks ago and has now said, “Nobody’s asking Apple to violate its privacy policy. It is a ridiculous situation, no company can be allowed to be the guardian of a user’s data.”

Spam messages and calls are a usual trend in India and most of the users use TrueCaller app to manage spam. TRAI maintains a Do Not Disturb directory and uses its app to catch hold of more spam numbers. Apple has reportedly told TRAI that its app violates privacy policies that the company has for the app store. Sharma has said that this fight is not the government vs Apple but, Apple vs its users as the problem of who controls user data gets more prevalent than before. Recently, TRAI came out with a comprehensive paper on “data ownership” that it wants to be debated. In the paper, TRAI argues that the users should own their own data and should have a say on how their data can or should be used.

The idea of data ownership sounds good but in a nutshell, it is a double edged sword. On one hand, introducing data ownership will become the users the sole owners of their data and take a lot of power away from services such as Google, Facebook and more as they won’t be able to use the data the way want to. On the other hand, it can open to flood gates to weak data privacy as third party apps would just require a click of the ‘Accept’ button to access the desired information as an average user may not understand the jargon written in privacy policy documents.

September 7, 2017
Telecom Operators Might Compensate Us for Dropped Calls

Frequent call drops in the middle of the conversation must have caused anguish within customers, and telecom operators are accountable for this. The Indian Government is taking notice of the inconvenience caused to its people and has cautioned telcos to minimize call drops and strengthen its mechanism.

Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stated in a press conference –

Call drops need to be minimized. Private operators need to reinforce their mechanism. I have directed officials in the telecom department to work on a disincentive architecture (for the operators) to address the issue.

Prasad further said that The Department of Telecom (DoT) will settle on penalty clauses and measures to reduce call drops by year-end. Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI) has set the maximum permissible call drop limit to 2% calls, and there is no mention of reimbursement of any sort by the independent regulator. The panel is considering re-evaluation and chances are that it may fix a lower threshold for call drops in the wake of numerous complaints. According to an official, it may be as early as the next six months.

The choked network in metros and poor broadband connectivity have always been an issue with service providers. Despite that, customers are bound to pay through their noses as the services remain unsatisfactory. It is nice to see that the government is taking notice of public grievances and is considering taking action by the end of this year. However late, the news is certain to bring a big smile on everyone’s face.

There are a few telecom companies such as Reliance and Uninor that are compensating for the glitch on their part, but other mobile operators like Vodafone, Airtel, that have a larger consumer base are still to make a move in this direction. It would not be easy for the government to make telcos agree to its conditions as it will stir their revenue, but the government seems determined in its aim. The next few months will be the deciding point that will finally put an end to call drops.

June 3, 2015
Government Body NIXI Stands for Net Neutrality, Says its Against Selective App Bundling

Yesterday the deadline to cast a vote for saving the internet ended. Though we have to wait for the final take of the government on the issue, Neutral Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) has given its answer. The body under IT ministry said that it fully backs Net Neutrality and any move to bundle apps would go against the concept of Internet.

NIXI made a remark –

National Internet Exchange of India as the neutral exchange in the country, strongly supports Neutrality of the Internet which is the only way forward to make the Internet open, free and innovative.

Any move by Telcos to bundle application or content selectively will hamper the very basic concept of Internet.

The government-run organisation also expressed concern over the impact of discriminatory Internet on budding businesses. NIXI commented, “Under these circumstances any dilution of the neutrality of the Internet, is expected to affect the freedom of expression, development of innovative ideas and newer applications and entrepreneurship of youngsters and start-ups.” A couple of days back, a number of tech start-ups wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister of India asking for a free internet. They mentioned how the emerging companies would suffer and would never be able to become the next Google and Amazon.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is yet to give a response to over 1 million emails supporting SaveTheInternet.in campaign, but the organisation is not bound by any time frame. In such circumstances, the telecom operators are open to implementing any plan. The volunteer group behind ‘Save the Internet’ program is requesting the government to impose a temporary restriction on telcos to roll out any plan until the final verdict.

April 25, 2015
Intelligence Agency Asks DoT to Ban Call-Spoofing App WePhone

In a bid to stay informed about the callers’ identity, an intelligence agency has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to block the use of WePhone app. The tool allows you to conceal the identity of the caller.

Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications and IT, enlightened members of Lok Sabha about the issue –

A reference from an intelligence agency was received by the Department of Telecommunications to block the ‘WePhone App’ which facilitates its subscriber to spoof the Calling Line Identification (CLI) through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform.

The WePhone app works on the simple mechanism of transferring the call to the server abroad, which marks for the original location of the caller. This makes it really difficult for the intelligence agency to track the location of the call.

DoT formed a technical committee who found out that a number of computer or mobile applications can be skipped from the getting identified. Mr. Prasad talked about the committee report saying, “Based on the recommendations of the committee, the matter was taken up with the Group Coordinator, Department of Electronics & Information Technology, who issues the direction for blocking such identified websites.”

The statement depicts the intentions of the intelligence agency in clear light, but it is yet not confirmed if the government has carried out the request.

March 5, 2015
‘DOT’ Hits Hard On Piracy And Porn In India

The government has decided to put a blanket ban on several websites that allow users to share pornographic content. Department of Telecommunication (DOT) has directed Internet Service Providers to block 39 websites that allow users to share pornographic content.

Most of these websites are web forums, where internet users share images and URLs to download pornographic files. But some of these websites are also image hosts and file hosts, mostly used to store and share files that are non-pornographic.

The DOT order doesn’t give any reason or law under which the websites have been blocked. It says, “It has been decided to immediately block access to the URLs… you are accordingly directed to immediately block access to those URLs.”

As per TOI: A senior DoT official, who pleaded anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the department was just following the orders issued by cyber security coordination committee and hence could not talk about the specific reasons behind the block.

“In the case of file hosts and image hosts, which people use for various purposes including for storing personal files, the DOT order is a clear overreach,” said Sunil Abraham, director of Centre for Internet and Society (CIS). “Even in the case of pornography, there is nothing in the IT Act that can be used to block websites hosted outside in India.” He added,

There is a possibility that government is interpreting some sections of the IT Act to suit its purpose, but I feel that is wrong and should be challenged in court by ISPs if they care about the rights of their users.”

Rajesh Chharia, president of Internet Service Providers Association of India, said that it was not possible for ISPs to pushback orders from DoT. “We are the licensee and we have to operate under the laws… we can’t pushback,” he said.

But I feel ideally the government should ask the people who have produced objectionable content to remove it from the web if these people are in India… If they are outside, the websites should be blocked at the international cable landing stations. Involving 150-odd ISPs to implement an order is not the right way to do it,” added Chharia.

I have travelled to China and Middle East and have seen that people access pornographic websites using various web tools. In fact, by banning websites the governments have made it more alluring for users to watch and access pornography,” says Abraham. None of the western democracies have explicit ban on pornography.

Is India becoming the next china ? Is it the end of porn and piracy in India ? What do you think ?

August 19, 2013