JOIN USThe draft plan now will go to the Group of Ministers within a month and then to the Cabinet for the final approval, source in the Department of Telecom said.
The Plan (NFAP 2011) also encourages domestic manufacturing of telecom equipment besides efficient utilisation of scared radio waves.
Some of the industry representatives have opposed the proposal that some spectrum in the frequency bands of 900, 1,400, 1,800 and 1,900 MHz should be kept aside for companies to provide wireless services using technology and systems developed by indigenous players.
Even the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry had also raised concerns over the proposal to allocate 700 MHz band for mobile and wireless broadband service.
The 700 MHz spectrum band was earlier predominantly allotted for broadcasting services.
Representatives from the I&B ministry, in a NFAP meeting held in March, said the as the Doordarshan digitisation plans are likely to complete by 2017, the Department of Telecom should consider spectrum requirement of broadcasters.
However, the department is under pressure to ensure better spectrum management to increase the mobile penetration in rural areas.
Currently the share of urban subscriber in the country has marginally stood at 66.27 per cent whereas share of rural subscribers in India stood at 33.73 per cent.