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Quaterly Newsletter Issue #07
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Dear Readers,
Greetings!
Welcome to the seventh edition of InnovTech@CUTS!
This newsletter edition brings you updates from the last six months. In this period, CUTS International has released several key publications, including a Briefing Paper on 'Competition Issues in the Cloud Service Sector' and research reports under the 'Ethical 6G' project. The three reports, complemented by two significant events, aim to inform stakeholders about the 6G development, boost Australia-India collaboration in 6G, and promote open, consensus-driven 6G standards.
CUTS Institute for Regulation & Competition (CIRC) also released a study on the draft Digital Competition Bill 2024 and its potential impact on consumers in India. We also submitted our comments on the draft Digital Competition Bill, 2024, the draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023, and the TRAI Consultation Paper on Review of Quality-of-Service Standards. Furthermore, we maintained active involvement in the India-U.S. Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) and hosted events on U.S.-India bilateral partnerships in defence supply chains and emerging technologies.
Further, we are proactively engaged in studies related to data privacy, particularly with the passage of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Artificial Intelligence, misinformation, building capacities of women and youth and organisations led by them in digital policymaking, and the Digital India Act, among others.
We hope you find our work both interesting and valuable. We welcome your generous feedback.
Amol Kulkarni
Director (Research)
CUTS International
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Digital Competition Bill 2024 and Its Potential Impact on Consumers in India
 CIRC undertook an in-depth analysis to evaluate the potential impact of ex-ante competition law on user experiences and interface with prominent digital platforms in the country.
This study focused on including Indian digital firms under the proposed Systemically Significant Digital Enterprises (SSDE) criteria outlined in the Digital Competition Bill (DCB) 2024. It also examined how restraints on SSDEs, such as unbundling apps or platforms, data use restrictions, and the necessity to seek user consent across core digital services – could affect consumer welfare by undertaking a scenario analysis approach.
More about the study here. |
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Understanding 6G: Developments and Challenges
Asheef Iqubbal and Varadharajan Sridhar
 This report is part of the project ‘Ethical 6G: Identifying Elements of an Ethical Framework for 6G and Creating Opportunities for India and Australia.’ The report demystifies the 6G terms, the vision and future, the tech vulnerabilities, and possible solutions. It also provides recommendations to guide the creation, modification, and improvement of related laws, regulations, and policies about 6G.
Read the full report here. |
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Strategic Opportunities for Australia and India from 6G
Ujjwal Kumar, Sanchita Chatterjee and Krishaank Jugiani
This report is part of the ‘Ethical 6G: Identifying  Elements of an Ethical Framework for 6G and Creating Opportunities for India and Australia’ project. It discusses the collaboration status between Australia and India in new and emerging technologies, including telecom. These include trade and investment opportunities related to the 6G ecosystem in both countries, including cyber security, skill development, semiconductor manufacturing, and quantum technology capabilities.
Read the full report here.
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Standardising Standard Setting for 6G
Asheef Iqubbal and Varadharajan Sridhar
 This report is part of the ‘Ethical 6G: Identifying Elements of an Ethical Framework for 6G and Creating Opportunities for India and Australia’ project. The report deconstructs the complex standardisation process for 6G, which involves different stakeholders with competing interests and needs. It also promotes open and consensus-driven standards based on rules, protocols, and technical specifications that govern how devices and networks communicate.
Read the full report here |
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Competition Issues in the Cloud Service Sector
Sangeetha Mugunthan
This Briefing Paper provides an overview of the  nature of the cloud services industry, various models of cloud computing, and the broad state of competition in the industry. It examines potential competition concerns and provides an update on the regulatory investigations in the cloud services industry.
Read the Briefing Paper here.
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Challenges Posed by E-Commerce to Consumers
Victor Sikombe and Nancy Mwape
 The internet has transformed how consumers and businesses interact, with electronic commerce (e-commerce) becoming increasingly prevalent. In Zambia, government investments in internet provision have led to a surge in online transactions. Over the past 15 years, e-commerce has evolved from a Western phenomenon to a global necessity. However, Zambia is still in its early stages, presenting challenges such as counterfeit products, unfair contracts, and invasion of consumer privacy.
Consumers often need help understanding complex online contracts and navigating insecure payment systems, which puts their data at risk. Additionally, the digital divide limits internet access for some, hindering e-commerce participation. Trust and security concerns also plague e-commerce platforms, deterring some consumers from using them. The abundance of choices online can also overwhelm consumers, leading to decision fatigue and reduced purchases.
Despite its benefits, e-commerce poses risks, such as receiving counterfeit goods or experiencing privacy breaches. In Zambia, legislation like the Competition and Consumer Protection Act and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act aims to address these issues. In addition, to overcome challenges, e-commerce businesses must prioritise strategies like personalisation, mobile optimisation, and transparent policies. Businesses can foster sustainable growth in the competitive e-commerce market by focusing on consumer preferences and trust-building measures. By focusing on these areas, e-commerce businesses can better navigate challenges and foster sustainable growth in a competitive market. |
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The Future of Metaverse Adoption: A Behavioural Reasoning Perspective with A Text-Mining Approach
Anuja Shukla, Anubhav Mishra, Nripendra P. Rana, and Sohom Banerjee
 This study uses netnography to collect online data from 751 articles (news articles, expert opinions, perspectives, and blogs). Further, the authors use the text-mining method of structural topic modelling to generate insights from the text data and perform sentiment analysis. The identified topics are mapped and explained using the behavioural reasoning theory to highlight "reasons for" and "reasons against" metaverse adoption.
The study contributes to the scarce literature on metaverse adoption and offers actionable insights to marketers to craft marketing strategies to benefit from the metaverse. It has been published in the ABDC-indexed (A*) journal, "Journal of Consumer Behaviour."
Read the full report here. |
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Reinvigorating India’s Cyber Security Strategy
Rakesh Maheshwari, Former Sr. Director and Group Coordinator, Cyber Laws and Data Governance, MeitY
CUTS Adda, April 04, 2024
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Stakeholders continue to oppose Digital Competition Bill at meet
Hindustan Times, June 20, 2024
MeitY seeks inputs from industry, think tanks on digital competition bill
Financial Express, June 20, 2024
India Inc. Raises Concerns Over Draft Digital Competition Bill
The Hindu, June 19, 2024
Ctrl+Alt+Delete on innovation? Digital Competition Bill has left Big Tech Startups flummoxed
The Economic Times, May 28, 2024
Navigating The Debate Over Ex-Ante Regulation in India’s Digital Market
MediaNama, April 15, 2024
U.S. implements Broadband Nutrition Labels; should India do the same?
MediaNama, April 12, 2024
Penalty provisions for dissemination of deep fakes can create a deterrent effect: CUTS
The Economic Times, March 24, 2024
Telcos push for testing of gear, use cases under current rules
The Economic Times, March 19, 2024
Telecom Companies Reject Need for Regulatory Sandbox: Highlights from TRAI’s Open House Discussion
MediaNama, March 18, 2024
Digital competition law to honour IPRs of Big Tech firms
Livemint, March 15, 2024
CUTS International calls for Greater Interoperability and Competition in the Cloud sector
MediaNama, February 20, 2024
Workshop on cybersecurity held for MSMEs
Nagaland Page, February 18, 2024
Haryana Bill puts edtech sector at risk of micro-management. Specify ‘online coaching centres’
ThePrint, February 12, 2024
Startups can be involved in India-U.S. defence production
The Times of India, February 09, 2024
India aims to secure 10% of IPRs in 6G technology: MeitY official
ET Telecom, February 03, 2024
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CUTS Comments on Draft Digital Competition Bill, 2024
Ujjwal Kumar
CUTS CCIER, May 15, 2024
CUTS Comments on TRAI Consultation Paper on Review of Quality-of-Service Standards
Deepika Ranawat and Krishaank Jugiani
CUTS CCIER, April 22, 2024
Joint Open Letter by Stakeholders to the MCA on the Digital Competition Bill
CUTS CCIER, April 18, 2024
CUTS Comments on Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023
Krishaank Jugiani and Amol Kulkarni
CUTS CCIER, January 15, 2024
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- Bijaya Roy, Subham Ghosh, Sobhan Guha, and Pratyush Banerjee attended a webinar on ‘Cybersecurity and Data Protection in Cross-border Paperless Trade’ organised by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on June 13, 2024.
- Amol Kulkarni spoke at the ‘Building Responsible Finance Ecosystems: A Summit on Responsible Finance in Action’, hosted by the Microfinance Council of the Philippines in Manila from June 03 to 07, 2024.
- Rageshree Bose participated in the APAC Cybersecurity Fund (ACF) Workshop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 13-17, 2024.
- Krishaank Jugiani participated in a TechTalk event on ‘Regional Cybersecurity Challenges’ at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi on March 20, 2024.
- Amol Kulkarni participated in a workshop organised by the Media Democracy Fund in Naivasha on January 23-25, 2024, to discuss strategies for holding digital platforms accountable in the Global South.
- Ujjwal Kumar participated in a virtual Panel Discussion on ‘The Role of Competition Law in Promoting Fair Bargaining for Gig Economy Workers in India’ organised by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy on January 11, 2024.
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Decoding the Digital Competition Bill
New Delhi, April 05, 2024
 CUTS International participated as a community partner in a Panel Discussion on ‘Decoding the Digital Competition Bill’ organised by MediaNama at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, on April 05, 2024.
The discussion aimed to dive deep into the legislation with distinguished speakers to better understand the state of competition in Indian digital markets. It also explored the role of data and the legislation's implications for these markets.
More details are here. |
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Workshop on Cyber Security for MSMEs and Women Entrepreneurs
Kohima, Nagaland, April 04, 2024
 Most businesses adopt these technology-driven models with the robust advancement of digital technology worldwide. We have all observed that to minimise human interaction during the pandemic; most businesses have been transitioning smoothly to digital technology. As the use of digital platforms increases, incidents like cyber-attacks also grow alarmingly. In this scenario, Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) are particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks, given their lack of awareness of various cyber threats and limited resources to implement an appropriate infrastructure to counter them.
In a series of training workshops on cyber-security capacity-building for MSMEs and women entrepreneurs in Northeast India, CUTS Calcutta Resource Centre organised a one-day training workshop at Kohima, Nagaland, on April 04, 2024, in collaboration with the YouthNet, Nagaland, Software Technology Park of India (STPI) and supported by U.S. Consulate Kolkata.
In this workshop, CUTS has engaged the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC, Patna), Patna, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India as a knowledge partner. Around 45-50 young entrepreneurs from various stakeholder categories participated. The inaugural session of this workshop was graced by Chief Guest Nuneseno Chase, Director, YouthNet, Nagaland and Abhishek Mishra, Additional Director, Software Technology Park of India (STPI), Government of India.
More details are here. |
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From Handshakes to Outcomes
Washington, DC, March 13, 2024
 CUTS 40th Anniversary event in Washington DC expanded strategic and technological considerations. Emphasis was placed on the defence and aerospace sectors' potential to improve bilateral relations. With discussions on economic and technological decoupling, such as the U.S.-Vietnam trade relationship, maritime cooperation was recognised for its growing strategic importance.
Research and case studies were suggested for emerging defence companies. Cybersecurity is another sector which has become crucial in the Indo-Pacific region, and collaboration in developing and co-producing critical technologies is essential, illustrating a global perspective on critical and emerging technologies.
More about the event here.
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Secured 6G: Australia-India Cooperation
February 22, 2024
 CUTS organised this workshop as part of the project Ethical 6G, in partnership with UQ Cyber, the University of Queensland, the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) and the Australian Risk Policy Institute (ARPI) on February 22, 2024. The webinar discussed the cyber security aspects of 6G.
More about the event here. Read more about the project here.
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Cyber Safe East India – Workshop on Cyber Security for MSMEs and Women Entrepreneurs
Aizawl, Mizoram, February 19, 2024
 CUTS, in collaboration with the Software Technology Park of India (STPI), Government of India, Aizawl, Mizoram and C-DAC, a cyber-security capacity-building workshop for MSMEs and women entrepreneurs in Aizawl, Mizoram, on February 19, 2024. Around 40 entrepreneurs, including over 30 women participants, participated in the workshop. |
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Cyber Safe East India – Workshop on Cyber Security for MSMEs and Women Entrepreneurs
Dimapur, Nagaland, February 17, 2024
 CUTS, in collaboration with YouthNet, Nagaland, and C-DAC, Patna organised a cyber-security capacity-building workshop for MSMEs and women entrepreneurs in Dimapur, Nagaland, on February 17, 2024. The workshop was attended by around 35-40 local enterprises, with a notable presence of more than 30 women-led businesses.
More details are here.
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Workshop on 6G: Technology, Standards and Regulation
February 01, 2024
 CUTS organised this workshop as part of the project Ethical 6G in partnership with the IIIT-B on February 01, 2024. In this workshop, key findings from the Ethical 6G project were presented and discussed, emphasising various risks that may emerge due to potential vulnerabilities in the 6G.
More about the event here. Read more about the project here.
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