Draft of new telecom policy by end of this year: Telecom Secretary

The Department of Telecom is planning to bring out the draft of the new telecom policy by the year end as the government has started discussion with stakeholders.

"We're expecting the draft of the new telecom policy to be out by December, the working groups are being created as we speak," Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan said here on Friday.

The department is also started the process of setting up working groups to assist to frame new policy as the government plans to take the views of all stakeholders, including public. 

The DoT last week held first round of discussions with operators, industry associations, infrastructure providers and research organisations on issues related to ease of doing business, regulatory framework, spectrum framework, security requirements for telecom networks, and even manufacturing and exports.

Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha earlier said the proposed policy will focus on next-generation technologies like 5G, internet for all, artificial intelligence, and Internet of Things (IoT), skills development, security and related sectors.

The inter ministerial group set up by the DOT to discuss financial stress in the telecom sector is expected to submit a report. The new policy will also incorporate some of the suggestions made by the group, the Minister had said.

At present, National Telecom Policy 2012 is in force which has paved way for delinking of spectrum from licence, sharing and trading of spectrum, increase in broadband speed, blacklisting of stolen mobile phones, among others.

However, the ministry is yet to meet certain targets like 2 megabits per second (Mbps) broadband speed for consumers and more importantly, empowering consumers by bringing their disputes with service providers under the jurisdiction of consumer forums.