If the Bill entitled โThe National Electronic Communication Act, 2021โ is enacted by Parliament and signed into law by the President, the National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) would be transformed into the National Electronic Communications Authority. The current Board of Commissioners, Management and Staff of NATCOM will remain in office when the new Act comes into force.
Significant changes in revenue sharing are expected to be approved by Parliament especially after they have been cleared by Cabinet. 88% of money accruing to the Authority will be retained. 2% of money accruing to the Authority will be allocated to the Universal Access Development Fund. 10% of revenue accruing to the Authority will be paid into the Consolidated Fund for appropriation by Parliament.
Before now, NATCOM retained only 67% of revenue accruing to them. 33% of revenue accruing to NATCOM was paid into the Consolidated Fund.
The Bill has already gone through some significant changes in the Legislative committee and was yesterday debated at a plenary session. There are few bottlenecks in the Bill that need to be cleared before it is enacted into law.
