The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday proposed that the government should provide funding for testing new products in the communications sector as some innovations can potentially bridge the digital divide.

The proposal was a part of the recommendations released by the TRAI aimed at fostering innovation in the digital communications sector through the implementation of a regulatory sandbox.

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 telecom regulator said.

It has released its recommendations on “Encouraging Innovative Technologies, Services, Use Cases, and Business Models through Regulatory Sandbox in Digital Communications Sector”.

Indian companies or partnership firms, or research institutes, that have done limited prior testing of their products, can apply for regulatory sandbox testing for a period of 12 months.

TRAI, however, said that since the testing will be carried out on live telecom networks on a certain set of users, the security of networks and the protection of consumers have to be ensured. The applicants have to keep a record of all testing steps, data, consent records, etc. for a minimum of a year after exit from the sandbox environment.

The data generated during the testing should be stored and disposed of in a secure manner.

Regulatory Sandbox (RS) makes real-time but regulated access to telecom networks and customer resources, something that is not possible in conventional methods of lab testing or pilots. Specific and generic exemptions in regulations, valid only for RS testing, are granted for testing new ideas.

Regulatory bodies in many countries have established such sandbox frameworks. 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, it said.

Trai said the scope of the sandboxing framework includes any new digital communications 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 utilise 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.

The regulatory sandbox framework is expected to give the digital communications industry’s start-up 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.