The long legal arc of Indian telecommunications which stretches from the colonial-era Indian Telegraph Act of 1885[1] to the final operationalization of the Telecommunications Act of 2023,[2]tells a highly complex and paradoxical story. It is not a simple narrative of market-driven deregulation or standard market-based liberalization. Instead, it marks the birth of a sophisticated administrative state that has successfully exchanged its clumsy, contract-bound licensing chains for a sleeker, digital-first regulatory harness. This 141-year transition is less a retreat of state gatekeeping than its technological modernization. By shifting from the bilateral, court-reviewable “licence” of the nineteenth century to the unilateral, executive-led “authorisation” of the twenty-first, the Indian federal state has consolidated its absolute gatekeeping power under a polished, digital-era vocabulary.

The Telecommunications Act of 2023 received presidential assent on December 24, 2023,[3] signalling a historic, long-awaited break from the archaic 1885 framework. Yet, its statutory and operational heart. Section 3, which officially replaces the entire legacy of “licenses” with “authorisations”,[4] was placed in executive cold storage. For exactly thirty months, Section 3 remained un-commenced,[5] leaving the industry in a state of regulatory limbo. This substantial gap was only closed on June 23, 2026, when S.O. 3368(E) finally brought Section 3 into legal force,[6] alongside the notification of the Telecommunications (Authorisation for Provision of Principal Telecommunication Services) Rules, 2026.[7]

This deliberate, prolonged delay between the passing of parliamentary text and its actual executive commencement exposes a deep-seated lack of institutional accountability in telecom governance. By holding Section 3 in abeyance, the government ensured that the absolute, state-centric tools of Section 4 of the 1885 Act[8] remained fully operational until the executive could design its new, far-reaching levers of administrative control. Rather than a swift transition to a modern, market-friendly regime, the industry experienced a prolonged phase of executive unilateralism, demonstrating that the colonial legacy of state control is far more persistent than any statutory preamble might suggest.

This persistent control is laid bare in the design of the 2026 Rules. Proponents of the new framework argue that the transition is a genuine reform because it dismantles the rigid, contract-based licensing model that spawned decades of ruinous litigation, such as the infamous Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) disputes.[9] Under the old Act, a licence granted under Section 4 was legally treated as a bilateral contract.[10] While this structure was rigid, it allowed operators to challenge unilateral state demands in courts and tribunals as breaches of contract. The new Section 3 of the 2023 Act, however, establishes a unilateral “authorisation” framework.[11] In this regime, the operator is no longer a contracting partner with the sovereign but a mere “authorised entity.” The shift from “licence” to “authorisation” strips the industry of its contractual leverage, transforming regulatory compliance into a unilateral administrative permit that the Department of Telecommunications can amend, suspend, or revoke with minimal judicial interference.

Furthermore, a close, rigorous reading of the financial terms in the 2026 Rules reveals that this transition is largely an administrative repackaging of the same state control. While the new rules introduce streamlined, portal-driven filings and rationalize service categories into Unified, Access, and Long-Distance authorisations,[12] the underlying financial extractivism remains entirely unchanged. The annual authorisation fee for these principal services is still pegged at a staggering 8 percent of Adjusted Gross Revenue.[13] Crucially, five-eighths of this fee continues to be diverted to the rebranded Digital Bharat Nidhi,[14]the direct successor to the colonial-era Universal Service Obligation Fund. The state’s financial bite remains exactly as deep as it was under the legacy regime; only the administrative machinery has been lubricated to ensure smoother extraction.

Even the much-vaunted transition from physical licensing to digital administration represents a significant modernization of surveillance and control. The 2026 Rules mandate that all communications, compliance reporting, and user identity verifications be executed through the centralized Telecom eServices Portal.[15] While this single-window system undoubtedly enhances operational speed, it also establishes a real-time digital panopticon. When coupled with the government’s retained powers of lawful interception under Section 20 of the 2023 Act,[16] the unilateral authorisation model provides the executive with unparalleled administrative leverage over the digital economy.

Ultimately, this transition offers a sobering lesson for both domestic investors and global telecom players looking at India’s massive market of over one billion subscribers.[17] The nation has not dismantled its state-centric telecom architecture; it has simply modernized its execution. The “regulatory certainty” promised by the 2023 Act is indeed real, but it is a certainty dictated entirely by executive decree rather than negotiated bilateral contracts. For an industry that contributes about 8 percent of India’s GDP, this new regime demands a major strategic shift: operators must learn to navigate a landscape where the state is no longer a contractual partner, but an absolute, digital-era administrator.

Nowhere is the final dismantling of the legacy licensing regime more apparent than in the Telecommunications (Terms and Conditions for Migration) Rules, 2026,[18] when viewed from a consumer perspective. Under the earlier licensing framework governed by Section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885,[19] telecom licences were treated as bilateral contracts, and their conditions, covering service quality, tariff transparency, billing accuracy, and grievance redressal, could be invoked by consumers before forums established under the Consumer Protection Act.[20] The new migration Rules require operators to surrender their licences and execute a unilateral undertaking to transition to the “authorisation” regime under Section 3 of the 2023 Act.[21] While Section 30 of the 2023 Act expressly preserves the right of consumers to approach consumer forums and introduces a statutory online dispute resolution mechanism,[22] the shift from contract to authorisation means that service obligations now flow from administrative conditions and TRAI regulations, such as the Industry Charter on consumer rights, rather than from enforceable contractual terms in licences. Thus, the migration simplifies regulatory compliance for operators while repositioning consumer rights within a statutory and regulatory framework rather than a contractual one.

Simultaneously, the repeal of the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933,[23] through the Telecommunications (Radio Equipment Possession Authorisation) Rules, 2026,[24] ends the licensing regime for wireless hardware. Previously, the 1933 Act required licences for possession of wireless apparatus, creating a record of compliance that could assist consumers in disputes over defective or non-compliant devices. The new digital authorisation system, administered via the Telecom eServices Portal, exempts ordinary consumers using personal devices (including those with up to four SIMs) but centralizes device compliance oversight within the Department of Telecommunications. Consumers facing hardware-related issues must now rely primarily on remedies under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certifications,[25] without the additional layer of licence-based accountability. In effect, the transition from physical licences to digital authorisations modernizes state control over telecom apparatus while aligning consumer redressal mechanisms with the broader statutory framework under the 2023 Act.

* Vice Chancellor, National University of Study and Research in Law (NUSRL), Ranchi.

** 4th-Year Student specializing in Telecom Law and Research Assistant, National University of Study and Research in Law (NUSRL), Ranchi.

[1] Indian Telegraph Act 1885 (Act 13 of 1885).

[2] Telecommunications Act 2023 (Act 44 of 2023).

[3] Telecommunications Act 2023 (n 2); the Act was published in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary) as dated 24 December 2023.

[4] Telecommunications Act 2023 (n 2) s 3(1) (prior authorisation for providing telecommunication services and for establishing, operating, maintaining or expanding telecommunication networks) and s 3(6) (migration of existing licences).

[5] Sections 1, 2, 10–30, 42–44, 46–47, 50–58, 61 and 62 were brought into force on 26 June 2024 by S.O. 2408(E) dated 26 June 2024, and ss 6–8, 48 and 59(b) on 5 July 2024 by S.O. 2623(E) dated 5 July 2024 (Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Pt II, s 3(ii)). Section 3 was not among them.

[6] Ministry of Communications (Department of Telecommunications), S.O. 3368(E) (23 June 2026), appointing 23 June 2026 as the date on which s 3(1) and s 3(6) of the Telecommunications Act 2023 (n 2) come into force.

[7] Telecommunications (Authorisation for Provision of Principal Telecommunication Services) Rules 2026, notified by the Ministry of Communications (Department of Telecommunications) on 23 June 2026 under the Telecommunications Act 2023 (n 2) (Principal Services Rules).

[8] Indian Telegraph Act 1885 (n 1) s 4 (exclusive privilege of the Central Government to establish, maintain and work telegraphs, with power to grant licences to others on such conditions and in consideration of such payments as it thinks fit).

[9] Union of India v Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (2020) 3 SCC 525.

[10] Indian Telegraph Act 1885 (n 1) s 4. Licences under that provision were granted through Unified Licence agreements between the licensor (the Central Government) and the licensee.

[11] Telecommunications Act 2023 (n 2) s 3(1).

[12] Principal Services Rules (n 7) rr 65 (unified service authorisation) and 69 (access service authorisation). The Rules in fact provide for five categories: unified service, access service, wireline access service, internet service and long distance service.

[13] Principal Services Rules (n 7); Department of Telecommunications, ‘Fees and Charges for Services’, Telecom eServices Portal <https://www.eservices.dot.gov.in/fees-charges-for-services> accessed 22 October 2026 (annual authorisation fee of 8% of Adjusted Gross Revenue, subject to applicable minimum conditions).

[14] Telecommunications Act 2023 (n 2) s 24, under which the Universal Service Obligation Fund created under the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 (n 1) became the Digital Bharat Nidhi. The DoT fee schedule (n 13) records that the 8% fee includes the contribution attributable to the Digital Bharat Nidhi.

[15] Ministry of Communications (Department of Telecommunications), Notification of the Telecom eServices Portal (23 June 2026).

[16] Telecommunications Act 2023 (n 2) s 20 (interception, monitoring and blocking of messages in the interest of public emergency or public safety), in force since 26 June 2024 (n 5).

[17] Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report for the quarter ending 30 June 2026 (released 12 October 2026), recording 1,348.08 million telephone subscribers.

[18] Telecommunications (Terms and Conditions for Migration) Rules 2026, notified by the Ministry of Communications (Department of Telecommunications) on 23 June 2026.

[19] Indian Telegraph Act 1885 (n 1) s 4.

[20] Consumer Protection Act 2019 (Act 35 of 2019).

[21] Telecommunications Act 2023 (n 2) s 3(1) and s 3(6); Terms and Conditions for Migration Rules 2026 (n 18).

[22] Telecommunications Act 2023 (n 2) s 30(1)–(3) (online dispute resolution mechanism for disputes between users and authorised entities; participation by authorised entities is mandatory and the Consumer Protection Act 2019 (n 20) is unaffected). Section 30 has been in force since 26 June 2024 (n 5).

[23] Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933 (Act 17 of 1933) s 3 (prohibition on possessing wireless telegraphy apparatus without a licence); repealed by the Telecommunications Act 2023 (n 2).

[24] Telecommunications (Radio Equipment Possession Authorisation) Rules 2026; applications for new authorisations were enabled on the Telecom eServices Portal with effect from 6 August 2026: Department of Telecommunications, Telecom eServices Portal <https://www.eservices.dot.gov.in> accessed 22 October 2026.

[25] Consumer Protection Act 2019 (n 20); Bureau of Indian Standards Act 2016 (Act 11 of 2016).