NTP 2011 soon; Sibal sets 100-day agenda
After initiating the process to fix the immediate problem in the sector, the 2G spectrum scam, telecom minister Kapil Sibal has set sights on other important issues plaguing the sector. On Saturday, Sibal set out a 100-day timeframe to begin the process of charting a new telecom policy, to be called National Telecom Policy 2011 (NTP11). Considering the changes in the telecom sector in the last 11 years since the New Telecom Policy 1999 was framed, a new look at the policy was now required, said Sibal. The cornerstone of the new policy would be the “aam aadmi,” the minister said. The revenue considerations of the government and the needs of a robust industry and reasonable tariff rates would be adequately balanced. In the next 100 days, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) would begin consultations with the stakeholders on issues like resolving outstanding security issues, a robust policy on spectrum allocation and management and implementation of the national wireless broadband project.
NTP 2011 will cover issues pertaining to licensing, spectrum allocation, tariffs/pricing, linkage with rollout obligations, flexibility within licences, spectrum sharing, spectrum trading, mobile virtual network operators, unlicensed bands as well as mergers and acquisitions.
The minister said he would try to maintain as much consensus as possible while charting out NTP 2011. The changes will be done in a technology-agnostic environment after due consideration to the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
As part of the new policy, telecom would get infrastructure sector status, heralding tax breaks for companies and helping the domestic telecom equipment manufacturing industry. “We need to encourage the growth of this very important segment in new ways since our attempts in the past haven’t yielded desired results,” He explained.
Declaring that service providers in India had the least amount of spectrum, Sibal said discussions with the ministry of defence, department of Space, department of information and broadcasting and public sector undertakings would be expedited in order increase spectrum availability for the telecom sector. Sibal also announced the National Frequency Allocation Plan 2011, under which data about spectrum will be published on the DoT website.
The telecom minister said that DoT had so far received penalties of Rs 73.73 crore from Aircel, Uninor, Dishnet, Etisalat DB and Sistema Shyam for failure to meet their network rollout obligations. Out of the total penalty of Rs 219.85 crore, DoT has so far issued notices for Rs 78 crore.
Appointments to the vacancies on the boards of BSNL and MTNL would be made taking into consideration the suggestions of the Sam Pitroda committee constituted by the Prime Minister early last year.
The minister also announced a series of projects for the department of posts (DoP) and the department of information and technology. Under the IT modernisation project of the DoP, remaining 9,600 post offices of the total 24,200 post offices would be computerised by March 2011. Secondly, within the next 100 days, the government would introduce ‘white label pre-paid cards’ or credit cards for rural India, railway reservation systems at post offices and establishing of logistics post centres.
For the Department of IT, Sibal announced e-governance and electronic hardware management including setting up of National Electronic Mission, human resources development through schemes to set up IT academies across states on public-private partnership mode, strengthening cyber security and the standardisation, testing and calibration infrastructure.
NTP 2011 will cover issues pertaining to licensing, spectrum allocation, tariffs/pricing, linkage with rollout obligations, flexibility within licences, spectrum sharing, spectrum trading, mobile virtual network operators, unlicensed bands as well as mergers and acquisitions.
The minister said he would try to maintain as much consensus as possible while charting out NTP 2011. The changes will be done in a technology-agnostic environment after due consideration to the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
As part of the new policy, telecom would get infrastructure sector status, heralding tax breaks for companies and helping the domestic telecom equipment manufacturing industry. “We need to encourage the growth of this very important segment in new ways since our attempts in the past haven’t yielded desired results,” He explained.
Declaring that service providers in India had the least amount of spectrum, Sibal said discussions with the ministry of defence, department of Space, department of information and broadcasting and public sector undertakings would be expedited in order increase spectrum availability for the telecom sector. Sibal also announced the National Frequency Allocation Plan 2011, under which data about spectrum will be published on the DoT website.
The telecom minister said that DoT had so far received penalties of Rs 73.73 crore from Aircel, Uninor, Dishnet, Etisalat DB and Sistema Shyam for failure to meet their network rollout obligations. Out of the total penalty of Rs 219.85 crore, DoT has so far issued notices for Rs 78 crore.
Appointments to the vacancies on the boards of BSNL and MTNL would be made taking into consideration the suggestions of the Sam Pitroda committee constituted by the Prime Minister early last year.
The minister also announced a series of projects for the department of posts (DoP) and the department of information and technology. Under the IT modernisation project of the DoP, remaining 9,600 post offices of the total 24,200 post offices would be computerised by March 2011. Secondly, within the next 100 days, the government would introduce ‘white label pre-paid cards’ or credit cards for rural India, railway reservation systems at post offices and establishing of logistics post centres.
For the Department of IT, Sibal announced e-governance and electronic hardware management including setting up of National Electronic Mission, human resources development through schemes to set up IT academies across states on public-private partnership mode, strengthening cyber security and the standardisation, testing and calibration infrastructure.
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