India bars telecom infrastructure providers from sharing data abroad

TL;DR
India has barred authorised telecom infrastructure-related providers from transferring, processing, or storing user and network data outside India under a newly notified framework reported on 13 July 2025.

India has barred communication infrastructure-related providers from sharing telecom data outside India under a newly notified authorisation framework reported by The Economic Times on 13 July 2025. The framework applies to infrastructure providers, digital connectivity infrastructure providers, internet exchange point providers, satellite earth station gateway providers, cloud-hosted telecommunication network providers, and national-level mobile number portability providers.

The notified framework allows these categories of companies to seek authorisation to operate in India. The listed categories are infrastructure provider, digital connectivity infrastructure provider, internet exchange point provider, satellite earth station gateway provider, cloud-hosted telecommunication network provider, and mobile number portability provider at the national level.

Under the framework, covered providers cannot transfer, process, or store telecom-related data outside India. The report describes this as a strict data localisation requirement for the telecom sector and links it specifically to communication infrastructure and related service providers covered by the authorisation rules.

Related questions

• Which telecom infrastructure-related providers are covered by India’s notified authorisation framework?
• What data localisation rule applies to cloud-hosted telecommunication network providers in India?
• Does India allow national mobile number portability providers to store telecom data outside the country?