Govt mandates to store ISD, conference calls details for two years

The government has mandated storage of international calls, satellite phone calls, conference calls and messages made over normal networks as well as on the Internet for a period of at least two years.

The move follows an amendment made in the unified licence (UL) by the Department of Telecom (DoT) which extended storage of call data records as well as internet logs to two years from earlier provision of one year.

UL holders are telecom companies like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, BSNL for providing all kinds of telecom services, except satellite phone services. The amendment applies to companies like Tata Communications, Cisco's Webex, AT&T Global Network, etc who have subscribed to these licences.

The circular for voice mail, audiotex and unified messaging service license said, “The licensee shall maintain all commercial records, call data record, exchange detail record, IP detail record with regard to the communications exchanged on the network. Such records shall be archived for at least two years for scrutiny by the licensor for security reasons and may be destroyed thereafter unless otherwise directed by the licensor.”

A similar amendment has been issued for licence issued to BSNL for providing satellite phone calls and data services as well as for VSAT licence holders who provide satellite-based services, mandating them to maintain call data and internet communications records for at least two years.