TRAI wants to be apex authority on data in India, MeitY disinterested

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Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) wants to become the apex authority on data security, privacy and cybercrime according to a report by The Economic Times.

According to the paper, all the relevant information passes through mobile phone networks and that TRAI wants its reach to be widened.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), however, does not entertain the idea of making TRAI the authority on such matters. A senior official said to the paper that TRAI was specifically designed to be just a regulator for telecom.

This idea comes at a time when the government is planning to table the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill in the Parliament. The bill will help set up Data protection authority at a national level which will monitor data establishments like fintech and e-commerce companies among others and deal with matters of user consent.

As of now, TRAI doesn’t have the power to impose penalties or the geographical spread for the bill.

“The government should make TRAI the Digital Communications Regulatory Authority of India, which should function as a converged data regulator but not of content... Ultimately, data transmission takes place through telecom networks and will continue to do so.” said sources backing TRAI

The senior official of MeitY told the paper, "While the bill proposes making TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate and Tribunal) the tribunal for data matters, the reason why it proposes another body (as regulator) is because the bill will require a mechanism in every state and a much more powerful body that can impose penalties".

The source backing TRAI also said, "The regulator should be a single one and TRAI believes it fits very well into that role".

"TRAI has already worked upon all the aspects in the data domain — communication, transmission and storage of data," it added.