Cloud has been the buzzword since last few years in India. Cloud based software, services, platform and infrastructure has witnessed quantum leaps in terms of growth, as now almost everything related to IT is based on Cloud.In their report, Gartner analysed that public Cloud services market in India will reach $1.8 billion by the end of 2017, and as per 451 Research, India will soon become a powerhouse of Cloud computing in Asia-Pacific, on-par with China.
Govt. of India understands this fact, and they are aware that the future of computing is Cloud. And precisely this is the reason that Telecom Authority Of India (TRAI) now wants to regulate Cloud computing services in India, and the first step has already been taken.
Interestingly, the recent initiatives of regulating massive Cloud services market is not that vocal, compared to their intentions of regulating OTT players in India (which received considerable opposition).
Rather, TRAI is taking a ‘light touch approach’ to tackle this situation. Will it work?
TRAI’s Diplomatic Approach Towards Regulating Cloud Services in India
As per reports coming in, TRAI has approached Department of Telecom (DoT), and urged them to create a framework for forming an industry body of all Cloud services providers.
There would be 4 major pointers includes in this industry body, which are:
Eligibility criteria for becoming a member of this body
- Entry fees charged
- Period of registration
- Governance structure
The last pointer is specially interesting, because it shall define what all a Cloud service provider is allowed to do, and what they are not allowed to do.
Indirectly, this industry body will work as a regulation machine for entire Cloud service market, and impacting every Cloud service provider in the country.
As per TRAI, such an industry body shall be the “most appropriate framework” because this would “create an environment to speed up investments and growth, and also have the capability to control restrictive and anti-consumer practices”.
The reports also mention that Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI) has been asked to prepare a ‘cloud services interoperability standards’ as well, so that various Cloud services are calibrated with a national-level standard of operations.
The Good Thing: Govt. Knows Cloud Is Important
The need for such regulation and an industry body for Cloud services providers stem from the fact that Govt. is aware about the importance and relevance of Cloud in India.
If we go back and bit, and study the National Telecom Policy – 2012, then we will find several mentions of Cloud services, and its increased usage in India.
While mentioning the scope and impact of Aadhaar, the policy says, “Cloud computing will significantly speed up ability to design and roll out services, enable social networking and participative governance and m-Commerce at scale which were not possible through traditional technology solutions.”
The policy document also says, “The advent of technologies like cloud computing present a historic opportunity to catapult India’s vaunted service delivery capabilities to a new level domestically as well globally.”
The document emphasizes on making the Cloud platform more robust and safe, as the policy says, “To adopt best practices to address the issues (like encryption, privacy, network security, law enforcement assistance, inter-operability, preservation of cross border data flows etc.) related to cloud services, M2M and other emerging technologies to promote a global market for India.”
But how far will regulation help Govt. in this endeavour is a question which is open for debate.
Do you think that creation of rules and regulations related to cloud computing services in India will help the sector to grow and develop? Or will it stifle the whole eco-system, killing creativity and business acumen burdened with diplomatic protocols and limitations?
Do let us know by commenting right here!
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