Earlier this month, the Union Cabinet had approved the National Telecom Policy (NTP 2012) with a few changes and additions to the original draft of the New Telecom Policy, introduced by Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in October 2011. This policy will replace the existing telecom policy formulated in 1999 and define the general direction that telecom policy in the country is expected to take. There are differences between the initial and final policies: Change in Objectives: The draft NTP Policy had suggested direct revenue generation as its secondary objective, however the government seems to have shot down this objective, replacing it with 'availability of affordable and effective communications for the citizens' which the finance minister said will be the goal of National Telecom Policy - 2012 and the core of the policy's vision. Policy Additions The government has added a number of guidelines to the the draft telecom policy. These include: - Provide appropriate incentives for rolling out reliable and affordable broadband access to rural and remote areas: DoT had earlier proposed to lay special emphasis on providing reliable and affordable broadband access to rural and remote areas by a combination of optical fibre, wireless, VSAT and other technologies,which were to be funded from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) while the access to Optical Fibre Network was proposed to be open, non-discriminatory and technology neutral. DoT had also encouraged Fibre To The Home (FTTH) with enabling guidelines and policies and had suggested the creation of an institutional framework to co-ordinate with different government departments for laying…
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