Update

The Central Government brought Section 3(7) of the Telecommunications Act, 2023 into force on 21 August 2026, through a notification published in the Official Gazette. The provision empowers the government to designate, by notification, which telecommunication services require biometric-based user identification. A companion notification issued the same day identified two services as covered: wireless access services, meaning ordinary mobile SIM connections, and internet telephony service provided through mobile user terminals. Together, these two notifications operationalise the biometric identification mandate set out in the separately notified Telecommunications (User Identification) Rules, 2026.

Analysis

Section 3(7) itself does not impose any obligation directly; it is an enabling provision that allows the executive to bring services within the biometric identification regime through notification, without requiring further legislation or a parliamentary vote on each individual designation. Parliament granted this authority when it passed the Telecommunications Act in 2023; the exercise of that authority, more than two years later, to cover both traditional SIM connections and app-based internet calling occurred through gazette notification rather than fresh legislative debate. Legal commentators have noted that Parliament could, in principle, further expand coverage to additional services in the same manner, without another vote.

Designating wireless access services was widely expected, consistent with existing telecom KYC practice. Extending biometric identification to internet telephony through mobile terminals is a more novel step, and DoT has not held a dedicated public consultation specifically on that extension, having bundled it together with the more predictable wireless-access designation in a single companion notification.

Some secondary commentary on these rules has referred to them as operating under both the Telecommunications Act, 2023 and the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. This is not accurate: the 2023 Act repealed the Telegraph Act in its entirety upon commencement. Authorisations that originated under licences issued before 2023 continue by virtue of the newer Act's savings and transitional provisions, not because the 1885 Act remains independently in force. The distinction matters for anyone tracing the legal basis of an existing telecom authorisation, since attributing rights directly to the repealed statute rather than to the savings clause under the current Act rests on an inaccurate premise.