The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 is the enabling legislation in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

which governs the use of wired and wireless telegraphy, telephones, teletype, radio communications and digital data communications. It gives the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

exclusive jurisdiction and privileges for establishing, maintaining, operating, licensing and oversight of all forms of wired and wireless communications within Indian territory. It also authorizes government law enforcement agencies to monitor/intercept communications and tap phone lines under conditions defined within the Indian Constitution. The act came into force on 1 October 1885. Since that time, numerous amendments have been passed to update the act to respond to changes in technology.

Background

The Indian Telegraph Act, passed in 1883, was intended to give the Central Government power to establish telegraph lines on private as well as public property. At the time the Act was conceived, India was still under the rule of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

. Telegraph was first installed in 1851 and a trans-India telegraph was completed three years later in 1854. The telegraph had become, in the intervening thirty years, an important tool for British dominion over India by quelling rebellions and consolidating information. It was thus important for the British to have control of telegraphy and infrastructure across the subcontinent.

Legal interception of communications by law enforcement agencies

Indian laws do not allow disclosure of information pertaining to court authorised interception and communications data.

Miscellaneous

The ownership and operation of satellite communications systems and amateur radio equipment is strictly regulated in India.

Satellite phones

Satellite phones A satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio through orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites, as cellphones do. The advantage of a sat ...

have to either be purchased in India from an authorized distributor or can be imported into India after receiving permission from the

Department of Telecommunications The Department of Telecommunications, abbreviated to DoT, is a Ministry (government department), department of the Ministry of Communications (India), Ministry of Communications of the executive branch of the Government of India. History Telecom ...

(DoT). Following the Mumbai terror attacks in 2011, the

Directorate General of Shipping The Directorate General of Shipping, India is an attached office under the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India, responsible for life, health, vessel and the environment for Indian registered ships and ships at Indian ports. The Directo ...

(DGS) banned the use of

Thuraya Thuraya ( ar, الثريا, Gulf Arabic pron.: ; from the Arabic name for the constellation of the Pleiades, ''Thurayya'') is a United Arab Emirates-based regional mobile-satellite service (MSS) provider. The company operates two geosynchronous ...

and

Iridium Iridium is a chemical element with the symbol Ir and atomic number 77. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, it is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmium) with a density of ...

satellite phones and infrastructure in 2012; restrictions were already in place in 2010, for similar reasons, under provisions in the Indian Telegraph Act. Passengers importing satellite telephone as baggage shall be required to declare the same to the Customs on arrival at immigration and customs checkpoints. Circular No.37 / 2010-Customs states that "satellite phone declared to Customs shall be allowed clearance subject to production of permission for use from DoT, Government of India." (...) "Satellite phones imported for use in India without a valid permission of DoT may be detained and appropriate action in accordance with the law may be initiated." Indian media reports mention that

National Technical Research Organisation The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) is a technical intelligence agency under the National Security Advisor in the Prime Minister's Office, India. It was set up in 2004. It has the same "norms of conduct" as the Intelligence ...

(NTRO) has capability to detect, intercept and record phone communications using land and satellite-based communications link monitoring systems. Scientists at

Indian Institutes of Technology The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are central government owned public technical institutes located across India. They are under the ownership of the Ministry of Education of the Government of India. They are governed by the Instit ...

(IIT) have cracked

GEO-Mobile Radio Interface GEO-Mobile Radio Interface (GEO stands for Geostationary Earth Orbit), better known as GMR, is an ETSI standard for satellite phones. The GMR standard is derived from the 3GPP-family terrestrial digital cellular standards and supports access to ...

GMR-1 and GMR-2 encryption algorithms. NTRO and ISRO can access archived data from

Technology Experiment Satellite Technology Experiment Satellite (TES) is an Indian remote sensing and photo-reconnaissance satellite. Launch TES was launched by the PSLV-C3 rocket from the Sriharikota High Altitude Range (SHAR) at Sriharikota in the south-east Indian coast a ...

(TES),

Cartosat-2A Cartosat-2A is an Earth observation satellite in a Sun-synchronous orbit and the third of the Cartosat series of satellites. The satellite is the thirteenth satellite in the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite series to be built, launched by ...

and

Cartosat-2B Cartosat-2B is an Earth observation satellite in a Sun-synchronous orbit and the fourth of the Cartosat series of satellites. The satellite is the seventeenth satellite in the Indian Remote Sensing Programme, Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satelli ...

besides two Radar Imaging Satellites namely

RISAT-1 Radar Imaging Satellite 1 or RISAT-1, was an Indian remote sensing satellite built by the Indian Space Research Organisation and operated by National Technical Research Organisation . The second RISAT satellite to be launched, it used a C-b ...

RISAT-2 RISAT-2, or Radar Imaging Satellite-2 was an Indian radar imaging reconnaissance satellite that was part of India's RISAT programme. It was built by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and successfully launched aboard a PSLV-CA launch veh ...

Amateur radio

Amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

equipment can only be imported and operated in India with approval from

Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing The Wireless Planning & Coordination Wing (WPC) is a Wing of Department of Telecommunications coming under the Ministry of Communications of the Government of India. The department is responsible for issuing amateur radio licenses, allotting the f ...

(WPC) of the DoT. Indian amateur radio licence and VU- call-sign is mandatory for operating any category of amateur radio equipment within Indian territory. Indian amateur radio exams can only be taken by Indian citizens. Foreign passport holders can apply for reciprocal Indian licences based upon a valid amateur radio call-sign from their country of residence.

Amateur Station Operator's Certificate Amateur radio or ham radio is practised by more than 22,000 licensed users in India. The first amateur radio operator was licensed in 1921, and by the mid-1930s, there were around 20 amateur radio operators in India. Amateur radio operators played ...

and licences always bear mention of location of transmitting equipment. Portable and mobile amateur radio stations require explicit permission from WPC. Amateur radio operators from

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

do not have automatic reciprocity in India. Use of a FCC call-sign is prohibited by law. Ownership of amateur radio equipment and station operation on Indian territory of a US FCC call-sign obtained through ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VEC) examination is illegal.

Radio receivers for plane-spotting

Use of any category of radio equipment for plane-spotting requires permission from Wireless Planning & Coordination (WPC) wing of the DoT. Signal acquisition of any category within the radio spectrum outside of public licence-free broadcast frequencies needs approval from Wireless Planning & Coordination (WPC) wing of the DoT. Reception of radio traffic from Government or law-enforcement and defence organisations is strictly forbidden. Import and operation of radio scanners or radio communications receivers capable of listening to HF VHF UHF and satellite aircraft or maritime radio frequencies is tolerated if user has an appropriate amateur/maritime/aircraft radio licence.

References

{{Ministry of Communications (India) 1885 in India 1885 in law Communications in India Amateur radio in India Acts of the Imperial Legislative Council Telecommunications law 1885 in British law