Govt to form core group to promote local mfg of telecom infra

The group will function under the chairmanship of DoT Secretary, P J Thomas.

This was disclosed at a meeting Telecom Minister A Raja had with CEOs of telecom equipment manufacturers here on Wednesday.

India has about 500 million wireless subscribers and is adding 12 million new users every month. The operators depend largely on foreign equipment manufacturers for setting up networks.

There are other advantages of localisation of products and equipment. For example, if the equipment is manufactured in the country, it would be easier for the security agencies to understand their mechanism.
At the meeting, Raja asked the industry to actively participate in the promotion of equipment manufacturing and assured all possible help in this regard.

"The Minister said that for India to grow we should have more industries on local manufacturing," N K Goyal, President, Communications and Manufacturing Association of India, a body for promotion of the telecom sector, said.

The meeting also discussed issues such as investments, manufacturing and Indian intellectual property rights (IPR).

"The agenda of the meeting was the Minister and Telecom Commission Chairman wanted to know the problems we are facing.

"The Minister stated why the production is less and how it can be improved, and how the government can support," Rajiv Mehrotra, Chairman and Managing Director of Vihan Network Limited (VNL) said.
The industry requested the government to provide R&D (Research and Development) support. And the government recognised that it was required.

This is the second meeting in a row Raja had with the the telecom industry. The minister yesterday had met the CEOs of telecom service providers.

He is likely to meet the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) tomorrow to understand the issues and challenges faced by them.