This article was authored by AnantLaw and published in February 2023 edition of Chambers Global Practice Guide, TMT to discuss key annual trends and developments over 2022.
India is expected to become the fastest-growing telecoms advertisement market, with market surveys indicating an annual growth of 11% between 2020 and 2023. A recent report published by the Network Readiness Index 2022 states that India secured first rank in “AI talent concentration”, second rank in “mobile broadband internet traffic within the country” and “international internet bandwidth”, third rank in “annual investment in telecommunication services” and “domestic market size”, fourth rank in “ICT services exports”, and fifth rank in “FTTH/building internet subscriptions” and “AI scientific publications”.
In order to keep pace with the change in technology and the way business operates in present times, the government has been reviewing the laws/policies/legislation and, in certain cases, has proposed new draft bills, which eventually, if adopted, will replace the existing legislation. The government has also disbanded the Digital Communication Commission (DCC), a multi-ministry apex decision-making body overseeing all critical telecoms matters, and thereby handed over the decisions regarding budgeting to the Department of Expenditure. The aim of this move is to speed up the decision-making process and improve the ease of doing business in India.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) (government of India) has introduced a Digital India flagship programme. The main objectives of Digital India are to:
Provide for high speed internet as a core utility for delivery of services to citizens
Create shareable private space on a public cloud
Create safe and secure cyberspace
Provide for integrated services across departments or jurisdictions
Create availability of services in real time for online and mobile platforms
Create citizen entitlements that are portable and available on the cloud
Digitally transform services to ease of doing business
Promote cashless financial transactions
Leverage geospatial information systems (GIS) for decision support systems and development
Promote digital literacy by providing digital services in all languages and
Create digital platforms for participative governance
India has witnessed the 5G spectrum auction and the launch of 5G services by various telecoms operators. It is estimated that the demand of smartphones in India is likely to reach 400 million by 2026 and 80% of the devices will be connected using the 5G services.
The government also moved towards regulating the transactions relating to crypto-assets and, in the 2022 financial budget, it announced the imposition of 30% tax and 1% TDS on income derived from transactions relating to crypto-assets. The Reserve Bank of India also announced the launch of the digital rupee.
The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) has also been tasked with developing standards for e-governance systems in India, in accordance with the policy on open standards for e-governance. This policy is followed by all e-governance programmes, including those that are government-to-government (G2G), government-to-business (G2B), and government-to-citizen (G2C).
The government has brought online gaming and e-sports under the Second Schedule of the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, online gaming being under the purview of MeitY and e-sports under that of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
In August 2022, the government also withdrew the Personal Data Protection Bill from parliament stating that a comprehensive legal framework will be introduced to regulate the online space, including separate laws on data privacy, the overall internet ecosystem, cybersecurity, telecoms regulations, and harnessing non-personal data to boost innovation in India. Subsequently, in December 2022, MeitY introduced the draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022 ("Data Protection Bill") and has invited feedback from the public as part of its public consultation exercise.
In addition, the Web 3.0 and the metaverse are new domains currently under discussion. The tech companies are exploring the metaverse and investors are looking to invest in it; it is believed that the new-age gaming industry will empower users as finance and gaming are two of the biggest applications in Web 3.0. The benefit is that the assets in the form of cryptos and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) earned in one game can be easily used in other games.
India is also prepared to join the global NFT revolution, while sports and entertainment NFTs will upend the Indian economy. It is only a matter of time until India sees the development of an NFT-based market for films and sports collectibles given the current trends across the world and the government՚s pending legislative and regulatory framework in this area.
More industry players are becoming aware of the significance of AI, especially its capacity to foster competitive advantage and shape the future of work. The emphasis on cost savings and productivity improvements may change for India՚s AI initiatives. Utilising data today plays a big role in running supply networks.
With the growing emphasis on digitisation, India will soon accept cutting-edge technology like satellite internet and data science. There is no doubt that India՚s telecoms development has significantly advanced from telegraphy.
Business in India has seen several developments as a result of the tremendous growth of technology. The technology sector grew enormously in 2022 and India continued to rank second among all countries forf internet subscriptions. The TMT industry as a whole, and in particular the telecoms industry, are currently experiencing managed competition, selective privatisation and slow growth.
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