If the structure is accepted by the government, this will necessarily do away with the existing Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the earlier proposed Broadcasting Authority of India.

The issue of spectrum management, which, at present, falls under the ambit of telecom department, is proposed to be managed by the ICE regulator along with carriage bureau.

The move is directed to introduce a single unified licensing regime for telecom services, broadcasting and Internet, senior government officials said.

Going a step beyond the FCC model, which has under its ambit separate telecom and broadcasting authorities, the proposed ICE Act 2000 does away with the distinction between infotech, communication and entertainment industries. The content bureau will tackle delivery mechanisms including terrestrial, digital, direct-to-home, satellite broadcasting and all forms of radio services. The carriage bureau will deal with all conduit-related issues including issue of licences. This will incorporate local-delivery services. Issues concerning costing and tariffs for telephone, internet and cable TV services will dealt with by carriage bureau.

With this, the new law will subsume several existing Acts including TRAI Act and the subsequent amendments to it, Indian Telegraph Act 1885, Cable Network Act, 1995 and the proposed Broadcasting Bill. All aspects of the proposed Broadcasting Bill have been incorporated into the new draft convergence law, sources said.

The draft legislation is currently under consideration of the sub-group on telecommunication headed by Fali Nariman. This group will present its recommendations to the Group of Ministers on IT Convergence, headed by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. After that the cabinet will take a final call on issues concerning the new legislation. The new legislation is proposed to be introduced in the Monsoon session of Parliament. Government sources said the proposed legislation will be comprehensive in nature and chalk out a framework to deal with all aspects concerning convergence of technologies.

It may be noted that a group of ministers headed by LK Advani is currently considering whether to allow DTH broadcasting in the country.