The Union Cabinet has approved the National Telecom Policy (NTP 2012) with a few changes to the original draft of the New Telecom Policy introduced by India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in October 2011. This policy will now replace the existing telecom policy formulated in 1999. In addition, the cabinet has also approved the introduction of Unified License and has instructed DoT to finalise the new Unified Licensing policy with the approval of Minister of Communications & IT. Through this policy, the Telecom ministry seeks to provide a predictable and stable policy regime for the next ten years. The ministry stated that the implementation of this policy will allow easy policy implementation to provide an efficient telecommunication infrastructure. It also added that this policy will allow the ministry to take facilitatory measures to allow existing service providers to quickly migrate to the new regime. Some of the highlights in NTP 2012 include: - Removal of roaming charges across the nation and provide free roaming to telecom users. - Extend Intra-circle mobile number portability facility on a nationwide basis, thereby allowing users to keep their mobile numbers even if they opt for another telco anywhere in the country. It should be noted that the ministry hasn't disclosed any specific timeline on its implementation. We had always felt that intra-circle MNP should have been in place from day 1. - The minimum broadband speed has been increased to 2 Mbps from the existing broadband download speed of 256 kbps. As we had said in one of our posts after the…
DoT
India’s New National Telecom Policy Approved; Unified Service Licenses, Intra-Circle MNP, Spectrum Reforms
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