India bars telecom data sharing abroad

The Indian government, through the Department of Telecommunications, issued a notification on July 20, 2026, mandating that all telecommunication data must be stored within India. Communication infrastructure providers, including cloud-based networks, mobile towers, and satellite gateways, are barred from sharing any data outside the country. The new authorisation framework under the Telecommunications Act 2023 introduces categories such as cloud-hosted telecommunication network provider and satellite earth station gateway. The government retains the right to inspect sites and audit systems for compliance. Industry experts, including Anupam Shrivastava of Submer Group and Bharat Bhatia of Lumina Foundation, commented on the rules, noting potential surge in domestic data centre demand and unresolved spectrum assignment issues for gateways.