Trai seeks public views on new telecom policy
NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator Trai on Wednesday invited public views on inputs for the proposed National Telecom Policy (NTP), under formulation by the government.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will give its inputs on the matter to the Telecom Department, which hopes to finalise the new policy by March. Trai on Wednesday released a consultation paper on Inputs for Formulation of National Telecom Policy- 2018.
The regulator, in a statement, said its inputs have been prepared based on preliminary discussions with multiple stakeholders including telecom operators, equipment manufacturers, industry bodies, and cloud service providers “in line with the technological advancements in the sector and customer aspirations for digital services”.
The NTP ‘objectives’ outlined in the consultation paper include achieving 900 million broadband connections at a minimum download speed of 2 Mbps, developing 10 million public wi-fi hotspots, attaining average speed of 20 Mbps for wireless Internet connectivity, and placing India among top-50 nations in global rankings of network readiness, communications systems, and services.
Other objectives include enabling access for connecting to 10 billion Internet of Things and Machine-to-Machine sensors and devices and attracting $100billion investment in the communications sector.
The paper added that this can be achieved through strategies like review of license fee and spectrum charges, and working towards One Nation–One License for services, and making available finance for communication infrastructure projects on par with that of connectivity infrastructure sectors like roadways and railways.
The deadline for providing written comments on the paper is January 19.