Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday tabled the Telecommunications Bill, 2023 in Lok Sabha amid sloganeering by opposition in the house.

The lower house has been adjourned till 2 PM by deputy speaker Rajendra Agrawal.

The bill empowers the government to suspend or prohibit use of telecom equipment from countries or a person as may be notified in case of national security. Telecom equipment needs to be procured from trusted sources only. To protect telecom consumers, the bill proposes that prior consent should be taken for receiving certain messages such as promotional, advertising, etc, The Economic Times reported.

The bill proposes to have an adjudicating mechanism in place. In case of any breach of terms and conditions of the licence, the adjudicating officer should pursue an inquiry and pass an order. The bill is also likely to grant powers to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to probe predatory pricing and take required action.

The bill is likely to replace three laws: the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950.

Sources told ET that over-the-top (OTT) players, or apps, have been removed from the definition of telecommunication services in the bill, giving huge relief to communication service providers such as WhatsApp and Telegram, which will thus remain out of telecom regulation.

Further, as per sources the government has proposed administrative allocation of spectrum for satellite services. The global mobile personal communication by satellite (GMPCS) has been incorporated under the first schedule, wherein spectrum will be assigned administratively.