Government plans to scrap DCC to cut overlaps, delays

The government is considering disbanding the 37-year-old Digital Communications Commission, formerly known as the Telecom Commission, three officials with knowledge of the plan said.

The commission, set up in 1989, is responsible for formulating the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) policies for government approval, preparing the department’s annual budget and getting it approved by the government, and implementing the government’s policy in telecommunication matters.

However, owing to an overlap in work between DoT members and advisers as well as delays in policy decisions due to the unavailability of other members, there has long been a need to move to a different structure, one official said.

Besides, the finance ministry has already taken control of the budget approval process for the telecom department’s projects and schemes, two officials said.

The move to disband the DCC also assumes significance as members in the technology and services verticals are retiring over the next few weeks and the government has not yet advertised the upcoming vacancies.

“It is being discussed if this is the right time to change the structure within the department and dissolve the two posts with no active recruitment,” the second official said.

The DCC consists of a chairman, three full-time members—one each for finance, services and technology—who are ex-officio government secretaries, and four part-time members from other departments. The telecom secretary serves as the ex-officio chairman of the DCC. The part-time members are the chief executive officer of Niti Aayog, the economic affairs secretary, the IT secretary and the secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion.

“There does not seem to be any succession plan now for the positions. We may see full curtains on the DCC post the retirement of the member-finance early next year,” an industry executive said.

Temporary charge
Disbanding the DCC completely could take some months and in the interim, additional charge of the verticals could be given to advisers within the department, the third official said, adding that the matter is being taken up with the Union Cabinet.

“In telecom policymaking, the Digital Communications Commission has always carried significant institutional authority. While there have been concerns that the responsibilities of its members overlap with those of advisers, I believe the commission should continue to function,” said Dr Mahesh Shukla, former member-services and director-general of telecom at DoT. “Decisions taken collectively by a commission, having secretaries from other departments too, carry greater weight than those made by a single secretary.”

According to Shukla, if member-level positions remain vacant due to retirement, advisers can be entrusted with additional charges subject to subsequent approvals and concurrences from the appointments committee of the cabinet. He noted that such appointments have been made in the past as well, often without a formal advertisement process.

Queries emailed to the DoT on Tuesday did not elicit any response till press time.

In 2023, media reports first talked about the proposal to disband the DCC, which did not go through as the need was felt to continue with the structure, given the authority of DCC and its members.

Rakesh Mehrotra, a telecom consultant and former chief regulatory officer at Tata Teleservices said, “India needs policy decision-making which is certain and with a long-term view. We are continuing to see that the posts in DCC, especially with regard to services and technology divisions, have been for very short durations.”

According to Mehrotra, having or not having the DCC is secondary, but what needs to be ensured is that decision-makers such as officials at the higher levels are trained in telecommunications.

Last year, the DCC conducted four meetings to consider and approve the telecom regulator’s recommendations on ratings of buildings or areas for digital connectivity, a regulatory sandbox to encourage technology and innovation in the sector, telecom network authorizations, and some recommendations on satellite-based commercial communication.

In 2018, the government re-designated the Telecom Commission as the DCC keeping in view the shift in the telecom sector from traditional services to a broader digital communications ecosystem, including 5G, internet of things (IoT) and data services. LiveMint