Lok Sabha Question No. 6186 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-04-04
Subject: Communication Policy
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: KAMLA DEVI PATLE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.6186 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4 TH  APRIL, 2018

## COMMUNICATION POLICY

## †6186. SHRIMATI KAMLA DEVI PAATLE:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the salient features of the current communication policy of the Government;
- (b) whether the Government proposes to evaluate the said policy;
- (c) if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to introduce an all India communication policy;
- (e) if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor; and
- (f) the steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) At  present,  the  National  Telecom  Policy-2012  (NTP-2012)  is  in  force  and  the  salient features of the same are given at Annexure.

(b) to (f) The  recent  technological  advancements  in  the  Telecom  Sector  such  as  5G, Internet  of  Things  and  changed  global  scenario  in  the  social  sector  have  necessitated  the review of existing policy.  Accordingly, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is in the process of formulating National Telecom Policy-2018 (NTP-2018).

Various  Working  Groups  on  themes  viz.  Digital  India,  New  Technology,  Licensing Framework, Make in India, Infrastructure, Spectrum Management, Security,  Skill Development &  Capacity  Building,  Allocation  and  Pricing  of  Resources,  Disaster  Management,  Consumer Protection,  Legislative  Framework  and  Strategic  Financial  Planning  were  formed  and  have given  their  inputs.  Further,  inputs  from  academia  and  other  stakeholders  have  also  been received.  Telecom  Regulatory  Authority  of  India  (TRAI)  has  also  sent  its  input.  Regular consultations and workshops have been held to prepare the policy. The work on formulation of NTP-2018 is in progress and is likely to be completed soon. Thereafter, draft NTP-2018 will be put in public domain, for inputs / comments.

## SALIENT FEATURES OF NATIONAL TELECOM POLICY-2012

## LICENSING, CONVERGENCE AND VALUE ADDED SERVICES

-  Strive to create One Nation - One License across services and service areas.
-  Achieve One Nation - Full Mobile Number Portability and work towards One Nation Free Roaming .
-  To orient, review and harmonise the legal, regulatory and licensing framework in a time bound  manner  to  enable  seamless  delivery  of  converged  services  in  technology  and service neutral environment. Convergence would cover:
- o Convergence  of  services i.e. convergence  of  voice, data, video, Internet telephony (VoIP),  value added services and broadcasting services
- o Convergence of networks i.e. convergence of access network, carriage network (NLD/ ILD) and broadcast network
- o Convergence of  devices  i.e.  telephone,  Personal  Computer,  Television,  Radio, set top boxes and other connected devices.
-  To move  towards  Unified  Licence  regime to  exploit  the  attendant  benefits  of convergence,  spectrum  liberalisation  and  facilitate delinking  of  the  licensing  of Networks  from  the  delivery  of  Services  to  the  end  users to  enable  operators  to optimally  and  efficiently  utilise  their  networks  and  spectrum  by  sharing  active  and passive infrastructure.
-  Put  in  place  a  simplified  Merger  &  Acquisition  regime  in  telecom  service  sector  while ensuring adequate competition.
-  To facilitate  resale  at  the  service  level under the proposed licensing regime - both wholesale and retail.
-  To delink  spectrum  in  respect  of  all  future  licences .  Spectrum  shall  be  made available at a price determined through market related processes.
-  To frame  appropriate  Policies for  new  licensing  framework,  migration  of  existing licensees  to  new  framework,  exit  policy,  measures  for  ensuring  adequate  competition etc. in consultation with TRAI.
-  To facilitate convergence of local cable TV networks post digitalisation.
-  To put in place an appropriate regulatory framework for delivery of VAS at affordable price to  fuel  growth  in  entrepreneurship,  innovation  and  provision  of region  specific content in regional languages .
-  To  put  in  place  a  framework to  regulate  the  carriage  charges,  which  are  content neutral and based on the bandwidth utilisation .
-  Reposition the mobile phone from a mere communication device to an instrument of empowerment that combines communication with proof of identity,
- fully secure financial and other transaction capability, multi-lingual services and a whole range of other capabilities that ride on them and transcend the literacy barrier.

## SPECTRUM MANAGEMENT

-  Ensure  adequate  availability  of  spectrum  and  its  allocation  in  a  transparent  manner through market related processes. Make available additional 300 MHz spectrum for IMT services by the year 2017 and another 200 MHz by 2020.
-  To move at the earliest towards liberalisation of spectrum to enable use of spectrum in any  band  to  provide  any  service  in  any  technology  as  well  as  to  permit spectrum pooling,  sharing  and  later,  trading to  enable optimal utilisation of spectrum through appropriate regulatory framework..
-  To undertake periodic audit of spectrum utilisation to ensure its efficient use.

-  To refarm spectrum and allot alternative frequency bands or media to service providers from  time  to  time  to  make  spectrum  available  for  introduction  of  new  technologies  for telecom applications.
-  To prepare a roadmap for availability of additional spectrum every 5 years.

## BROADBAND AND RURAL TELEPHONY

-  Increase  rural  teledensity  from  the  current  level  of  around  39  to  70  by  the  year 2017 and 100 by the year 2020. .
-  To  recognise  telecom,  including  broadband  connectivity  as  a  basic  necessity  like education and health and work towards 'Right to Broadband'.
-  Provide  affordable  and  reliable broadband-on-demand  by  the  year  2015 and to achieve 175 million broadband connections by the year 2017 and 600 million by the year 2020 at minimum 2 Mbps download speed and making available higher speeds of at least 100 Mbps on demand.
-  Provide high speed and high quality broadband access to all village panchayats through a combination of technologies by the year 2014 and progressively to all villages and habitations by 2020.

## R&D, MANUFACTURING AND STANDARDIZATION OF TELECOMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT

-  Promote the ecosystem for design, Research and Development, IPR creation, testing, standardization and manufacturing i.e. complete value chain for domestic production of telecommunication equipment to meet Indian telecom sector demand to the extent of 60% and 80% with a minimum value addition of 45% and 65% by the year 2017 and 2020 respectively
-  Create  a  corpus  to  promote  indigenous  R&D,  IPR  creation,  entrepreneurship, manufacturing,  commercialisation  and  deployment  of  state-of-the-art  telecom products and services during the 12th five year plan period.
-  To promote setting up of Telecommunications Standard Development Organisation (TSDO) as an autonomous body with effective participation of the government, industry, R&D centres, service providers, and academia to drive consensus regarding standards to meet national requirements including security needs.
-  Provide  preferen ce  to  domestically  manufactured  telecommunication  products,  in procurement of those telecommunication products which have security implications for the country and in Government procurement for its own use, consistent with our World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments.

## TELECOM  INFRASTRUCTURE/  ROW  ISSUES,  GREEN  TELECOM,  CLEAR  SKYLINE, MITIGATION EFFORTS DURING DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES

-  To work towards recognition of telecom as Infrastructure Sector for both wireline and wireless and extension of the benefits available to infrastructure sectors to telecom sector also, to realize true potential of ICT for development.
-  To facilitate increased use of alternative sources (Renewable Energy Technologies) of energy for powering telecom networks through active participation of all the stakeholders - the government, the telecom industry and the consumer for green telecommunications. Sector specific schemes and targets for promotion of green technologies will be finalised in  consultation  with  Ministry  of  New  and  Renewable  Energy  (MNRE)  and  other stakeholders.

## QUALITY OF SERVICE AND PROTECTION OF CONSUMER INTEREST

-  To  strengthen  the  regulator  for  ensuring  compliance  of  the  prescribed  performance standards and Quality of Service (QoS) parameters by the Telecom Service Providers
-  To  formulate  a Code  of  Practice  for  Sales  and  Marketing  Communications to improve transparency as well as address security issues relating to  Customer Acquisition
-  To undertake legislative measures to bring disputes between telecom consumers and service  providers within  the  jurisdiction  of  Consumer  Forums established  under Consumer Protection Act.

## SECURITY

-  To create an institutional framework through regulatory measures to ensure that safe-toconnect devices  are  inducted  into  the  Telecom  Network  and  service  providers  take measures for ensuring the security of the network..
-  To ensure security in an increasingly insecure cyber space, indigenously manufactured multi-functional  SIM  cards  with  indigenously  designed  chips  incorporating  specific  laid down standards are considered critical.

## SKILL DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR

-  To assess  the  manpower  requirement  at  different  skill  and  expertise  levels  by partnering with National  Skill    Development  Council and industry to  identify  the relevant needs of the sector and  prepare a roadmap.

## CLOUD SERVICES

-  To  recognise  that  cloud  computing  will  significantly  speed  up  design  and  roll  out  of services, enable social networking and participative governance and e-Commerce on a scale which was not possible with traditional technology solutions.
-  To  take new  policy initiatives to ensure rapid expansion  of new  services  and technologies at globally  competitive  prices  by  addressing  the  concerns  of  cloud  users and other stakeholders including specific steps that need to be taken for lowering the cost of service delivery.

## TELECOM  ENTERPRISE  SERVICES,  DATA  USE  NEW  TECHNOLOGIES  AND  IPV  6 COMPLIANT NETWORKS

-  To  facilitate  the  role  of  new  technologies  in  furthering  public  welfare  and  enhanced customer choices through affordable access and efficient service delivery. The emergence of new service formats such as Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications (e.g.  remotely  operated  irrigation  pumps,  smart  grid  etc.)  represent tremendous opportunities, especially as their roll-out becomes more widespread.
-  To recognize the importance of the new Internet Protocol IPv6 to start offering new IP based services on the new protocol and to encourage new and innovative IPv6 based applications in different sectors of the economy by enabling participatory approach of all stake holders.

-  To  create  a Telecom  Finance  Corporation as  a  vehicle  to  mobilize  and  channelize financing for telecom projects in order to facilitate investment in the telecom sector.
-  To rationalize  taxes,  duties    and  levies  affecting  the  sector  and  work  towards providing a stable fiscal regime to  stimulate investments and making services more affordable.

## ROLE OF REGULATOR, CHANGES IN LEGISLATION

-  To review the TRAI Act with a view to addressing regulatory inadequacies/ impediments in effective discharge of its functions.
-  To undertake a comprehensive review of Indian Telegraph Act and its rules and other allied legislations with a view to making them consistent with and in furtherance of the above policy objectives.

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