Minister for State for Communication (MoS), Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, yesterday inaugurated the International Conference of Telecom Regulators, which was organised by the Indian telecom and broadcast regulator TRAI as part of the ongoing India Mobile Congress and the World Telecom Standardization Assembly (WTSA-24) in New Delhi.

In his inaugural address Dr. Pemmasani highlighted the spectacular growth of the Information, Communications and Telecoms or ICT sector in the country, particularly the fastest deployment of 5G services and quick adoption of digital technologies in India.

He also shared his thoughts on the growth of the digital economy and conducive regulatory environment and related factors that contribute to such growth,  according to an official statement put out by the Communications Ministry.

Present during the inaugural function were Ms. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Mats Granryd, Director General, GSMA and Anil Kumar Lahoti, Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

During the inaugural session, the message of Minister of Communication, Jyotiraditya Scindia was read out by TRAI Secretary Atul Chaudhary.

In his message, Scindia stressed that regulators hold a sacred responsibility to safeguard the interests of consumers, alongside their myriad duties.

He further stated that evolution of NTNs will unlock new vistas, expanding the horizons of communication technologies and fostering innovative use cases and applications across diverse sectors, ultimately serving the greater good of society and advancing our collective journey toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

Scindia also called upon regulators to deliberate issues related to craft frameworks for OTT communication.

With the theme being ‘Emerging Trends in Regulation’, many eminent speakers from around the world, who are experts in their domain, spoke and deliberated on many important technical and regulatory issues.  There were three sessions in the conference and each session was on important and current topics.

The session on ‘Regulatory Outlook of OTT Communication Services’ addressed some complex regulatory issues pertaining to over-the-top (OTT) communication services.

Amongst the key points discussed in this session were the need for OTT regulation, consumer protection issues, law enforcement and national security issues.

TRAI stated that delegates from more than 30 countries registered for this conference and over 150 participants attended the conference, including around 80 international delegates, 15 Heads of Regulators/Ministers and domestic participants, representing stakeholders from the telecom industry.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between TRAI and Communications, Space & Technology (CST), the ICT Regulator of Saudi Arabia, on the occasion.