CII announced that the draft NTP 2011 policy is a step forward to create a
win-win ecosystem where the utmost beneficiary is the subscriber.
A detailed policy framework with a longer-term view will help foster balanced
growth and competition in the sector. The industry takes immense pride and satisfaction
in deliberating on the draft policy to help push the vision of providing the
people of India with high quality, reliable and affordable converged
telecommunications services.
The industry expects the Government of India to consider the following:
— According critical infrastructure status to active and passive
infrastructure in the telecommunications and broadband sector.
— Clear outline on the migration of existing licenses and spectrum to the new
licensing framework, pricing of existing 2G spectrum at the time of migration
and the policy on exit of licensees, both currently and in the future.
— Consolidation policy.
— Mechanism for market discovery for future spectrum allocation.
— Policy pronouncement on liberalization of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
into the sector.
The key focus areas of the draft policy include the growth of broadband, the
relatively un-penetrated rural sector, domestic manufacturing and R&D, the
licensing framework, spectrum allocation and management and security, said
KPMG-CII in a report released at the National Telecom Summit – Ringing in
Changes : A Review of India’s Draft National Telecom Policy – 2011.
The key highlights of the draft policy are as follows:
— Infrastructure status to the telecom sector
— One nation-one license
— Inclusive growth with special focus on rural market
— Focus on indigenization of telecom equipment products and equipment
— Technology neutral unified license licensing of network operators and
service providers
— Trading, sharing and pooling of spectrum to be permitted
— Convergence of voice, data, video, Internet, multimedia, broadcasting and
value added services
The industry has perceived the draft as forward looking and directionally
encouraging but keenly awaits details on time-lines and manner of
implementation.
By Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]
