DoT releases draft rules for testing new telecom products

The Department of Telecommunications, on Thursday, released draft rules prescribing how a regulatory sandbox – meant to test new telecom products, services, processes, and business models in a controlled environment – can be set up. The draft rules have been released under Section 27 of the Telecommunications Act, 2023, which allows the government to create one or more regulatory sandboxes to “encourage and facilitate innovation and technological development in telecommunication”. The approved applicants must indemnify the central government from “any acts, omissions, commissions, breaches or any kind of culpability arising out of or in relation to any testing in the regulatory sandbox by itself or by any participant”, a move that may deter participation in the space, as per Rana. The draft rules also empower the central government --- either of its own volition or on the recommendation of the GC --- to suspend or revoke the operations of a sandbox under two circumstances.