Draft Telecom Cybersecurity Rules 2025: Hits, Misses And The Road Ahead

India's telecommunications sector forms the backbone of its digital economy, connecting over a billion subscribers and enabling everything from mobile banking to e-governance. With this scale comes significant vulnerability, in the form of cyber threats targeting telecom networks which can compromise national security, disrupt services, and expose citizens' data to exploitation. Recognizing this, the government has over the years introduced frameworks to secure critical telecom infrastructure. The Telecommunications Act, 2023 became the statutory backbone for safeguarding India's telecom networks, followed by the Telecommunications (Telecom Cyber Security) Rules, 2024 ('2024 Rules').