Meta is concerned that proposed legislation in India could bring over-the-top (OTT) applications such as WhatsApp and Signal under regulatory control. The law aims to give the Indian government broad powers over telecom companies, Moneycontrol reports.
After the introduction of the Telecommunications Bill 2023 in Parliament on December 18, Shivnath Thukral, head of policy at India’s Mehta, said in an internal communication to colleagues that the government would override the proposed bill. – Said that it may choose to expand to The Top (OTT). This will include his Meta’s own internet applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram at a later date.
According to Moneycontrol, the email from Thukral said: In a very positive move, all explicit references to OTT have been removed from the bill…although the definitions of “telecommunications service,” “telecommunications identifier,” and “message” implicitly refer to OTT services. Some ambiguity remains as it may be interpreted as including. Even if there is no explicit mention.
“Conceivably, even after removing OTT from these definitions, governments will have sufficient discretion to designate OTT as telecommunications services and subject them to licensing regimes should they choose to do so through delegated legislation in the future. may have the right to do so,” he added.
However, the email also mentions that Thukral had conversations with certain ministers who assured them that the government has no intention of regulating OTT under the Telecommunications Act.
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