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Industry associations representing technology firms once again warned against the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI)’s advocacy to bring OTT communications apps like WhatsApp under a licensing framework. In response to a TRAI consultation, the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), NASSCOM, Broadband India Forum (BIF) and U.S. India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) all opposed the proposal. 

For years, telecom operators have bristled at what they describe as a regulatory gap between firms like WhatsApp and their own highly scrutinised businesses. Civil society and business groups representing the tech firms, however, have pointed out that unlike them, telecom operators have control over “carriage,” or the infrastructure to actually carry data over the internet. 

The counter-submissions in question were made in response to a consultation on service authorisations under the Telecommunications Act, 2023. COAI, which represents the telecom industry, has for years argued that OTT communication apps need to be subject to licensing conditions like they are. 

In a press note summarising all these counter-submissions, the IAMAI said that “there is a clear distinction in the operational and technical and nature of OTT service providers and TSPs,” and that OTT platforms “do not “free ride” as they are greatly driving the revenues generated by telecom service providers.” 

“OTTs are not covered under the ambit of Telecommunications Act, 2023,” Nasscom said in its submission. “There is no need to bring OTTs under Service Authorisation and impose any additional regulatory burden on them.” The industry bodies pointed to IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s statement in Parliament last year explicitly clarifying that OTT platforms are not covered under the Telecom Act.

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The industries and the academia are waiting for the details of the internship programme announced in the Union Budget by Finance Minister Nirmal Sitharaman recently. Hailing the thought process behind the scheme, National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) president Debjani Ghosh, and chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Roorkee and IIT Hyderabad B.V.R. Mohan Reddy said it will be a win-win situation for both the industries and the academia. They were talking to The Hindu on the sidelines of the convocation ceremony of IIT Roorkee on Saturday.

Ms. Ghosh said the Budget focuses on sustainable development and growth along with jobs, skills and employment. “The details of the internship programme is not yet out. But the thought process of more internships with companies make tremendous sense,” she said.

The NASSCOM president added that companies usually have to invest training of at least six months or a year to get a fresher to start contributing to a business. “Internship is a way to address it and it makes sense for companies and for students. Both industry and academia will embrace it. It is a win-win for everyone,” she said.

The Budget announcement says that the government will bear a large part of the cost and companies will have to fund 10% from their corporate social responsibility (CSR) fund. “It is making it very easy for the companies. I think this is going to work. Internships and apprenticeships are strategic tools of up-levelling skills and building the right talent for the company,” she said.

Mr. Reddy, meanwhile, said though the scheme is not new as in the recent past NASSCOM had sectoral skill councils for IT and IT-enabled services primarily for driving apprenticeship. “It helped in creating awareness level,” he said.

He, however, added that there is some confusion on the nature of the announcement that whether it is an apprenticeship scheme or an internship scheme. “We have to wait and see. Irrespective of what it is, it is a win-win situation for all,” he said. “If the government says there will be one crore internees in five years in 500 companies, an average 4,000 internees should join a company every year. We have to find some ways on how this can be managed or the number of companies have to be expanded,” Mr. Reddy said and added that an industry will get 12 months to observe a person before absorbing him or her. “The details are yet to be worked out,” he said.

New Delhi:

India now ranks sixth among the top nine deeptech ecosystems globally with 3,600 such startups, which received $850 million funding last year, a Nasscom report said on Thursday.

From 3,600 startups, over 480 were established last year — two times higher than the number established in 2022 — according to the report by Nasscom and Zinnov.

Of these 480 startups launched in 2023, over 100 are “inventive deeptech firms that have developed intellectual property or innovative solutions in new domains.”

Notably, 74 per cent of the deeptech startups established this year have concentrated on AI, a significant increase from 62 per cent in the period from 2014 to 2022.

Deeptech startups such as Agnikul, GalaxyEye, HealthPlix, Sarvam AI and Peptris, among others, are emerging in areas of healthtech, sustainability, AI and space-tech etc.

“Areas such as AI, quantum computing, space-tech, next-gen robotics and others will come together in interesting ways and be applied across every domain from education, entertainment, commerce, agriculture, industrial manufacturing, mobility, and several others,” said Jeyandran Venugopal, Chair, Nasscom DeepTech Council.

“India, with its deep talent base and traditional strength of producing top-notch STEM talent is well positioned to play a dominant role in this technology-led societal transition process,” he added.

While the country is ranked third in the technology startup ecosystem, it is at the sixth position for deeptech startups.

“For India to be in the top three deeptech startups ecosystem, key areas that need support are access to patient capital for deeptech startups, strong R&D partnerships with academia and implementation of the deeptech policy that was tabled in 2023”, explained Kritika Murugesan, Head, Nasscom DeepTech.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)