New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has proposed that the government should provide the funding for testing new products in the communications sector as some innovations can have the potential to bridge the digital divide.
Even without funding, entrepreneurs developing solutions for the digital communications sector will be able to test their products on live networks as part of the regulatory sandbox framework, the sector regulator said in its recommendations on the issue released Friday.
The regulator, however, has said since the testing will be carried out on live telecom networks on a certain set of users, security of networks and protection of consumers has to be ensured. The applicants have to keep record of all testing steps, data, consent records etc for a minimum of a year after exit from the sandbox environment.
Data generated during testing should be stored and disposed of in a secured manner.
While giving its recommendations on “encouraging innovative technologies, services, use cases, and business models through regulatory sandbox in digital communication sector”, Trai said Indian companies or partnership firms, or a research institute who have done limited prior testing of their products can apply for regulatory sandbox testing for a period of 12 months.
“Providing such a framework for live testing in India will encourage more entrepreneurs to develop solutions for the digital communication industry of the country as well as the world,” Trai said.
Regulatory sandbox makes real-time but regulated access to telecom network and customer resources, something that is not possible in conventional methods of lab testing or pilot.
Trai said the scope of the sandboxing framework includes any new digital communication service or technology that requires testing in a controlled live network environment where certain regulatory or licensing relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing are required.
Any licensed telecom service provider, called principal applicant, shall be eligible for testing in the regulatory sandbox subject to fulfilment of laid down conditions. The other entities, called applicants, willing to utilize the sandboxing facilities of any licensed service provider may engage with telcos. In case, applicants are not able to secure consent from telcos or the product does not necessitate associating with a telco, the applicant can directly apply to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
“Customer onboarding and private/public data processing should align with the provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023,” Trai said.
The application shall be accompanied by a non-refundable processing fee of Rs 10,000.
As per the regulator, the regulatory sandbox framework is expected to give the digital communication industry’s startup ecosystem access to real network environments and other data of telecom networks to help test the reliability of new applications before bringing them to market.
The framework provides for using cross-sector cooperation in carrying out testing with the help of other ministries and agencies.