The Delhi High Court (HC) has allowed community internet exchange point (IXP) Amaravati IX to operate without an internet service provider (ISP) license while it hears the exchange’s case against the Indian Government.
Amaravati IX filed a case against the government because of a notice the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has been sending it since 2024, compelling it to obtain an ISP license, stating that failure to obtain the license would invite coercive action under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. Amaravati IX has sought to get these notices quashed and urged the court to declare that it does not need an ISP license.
The DoT previously made similar demands to Extreme IX in 2019. In response, the company took the government to court. In an order dated July 2019, the Delhi HC had stayed the requirement for Extreme IX to obtain an ISP license till it made its final decision on the case.
Amaravati IX’s lawyer drew the court’s attention to its decision in the Extreme IX case, which the court eventually relied on to maintain the regulatory status quo for Amaravati IX as well. While the government has questioned the Delhi HC’s jurisdiction in deciding this case, the court has asked it to raise these concerns in its reply to Amaravati IX’s writ petition. The next date for the hearing in the case is February 3, 2026.Â
Some important context:
The chief difference between the 2019 case and the current one is the fact that the government has since notified the Telecommunication Act, 2023. Under the Network Authorisation category in the Act, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended that IXPs should obtain a network authorisation.
While the government is yet to release any rules for network authorisation, based on the response it sent to the regulator, it appears to have accepted the recommendation for authorisation in principle. Once these rules come into force, IXPs like Extreme and Amaravati may be compelled to obtain an authorisation.Â
Another key change since the 2019 lawsuit is the fact that the only government-backed IXP— the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) — has obtained an ISP license. This is despite the fact that the exchange had argued against IXP authorisation in its submission to the regulator back in 2024. NIXI complying and obtaining an ISP license could undermine Amaravati and Extreme IX’s arguments against the license’s necessity.Â
How Amaravati IX had responded to DoT’s notices:
 Amaravati IX has been operating without a license for more than seven years. It first sent details of its operations to the DoT back in 2018. In March 2024 (six years since the IXP had communicated its existence to the government), the DoT sent the exchange a notice demanding details of its license under the Telegraph Act.
Amaravati IX clarified that it operates a neutral IXP, and told the government that it allows ISPs in the region to interconnect…
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