New Delhi: Announcing the draft National Telecom Policy (NTP), Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday said that there will be one nation-one licence policy across the country, which means removal of roaming charges.
As per the draft NTP unveiled by the Government on Monday, spectrum allocation will also be de-linked from licences and radiowaves would be made available at market-determined prices.
Announcing that revenue generation for the Government will have secondary role under the new policy and the aim is to make roaming free of cost, Sibal said, "Draft NTP aims for 'one nation-one licence'."
"We will seek TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) recommendations on new licences, migration to new licences and exit policy," Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said while releasing the draft policy.
Draft NTP targets increase in teledensity to 60 per cent by 2017 and 100 per cent by 2020, said Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal.
Sibal also said that he wants India to become a hub for telecommunication. "Draft National Telecom Policy 2011 targets broadband on demand," he said.
"Will make 300 MHz of spectrum available by 2017 and another 200 MHz by 2020," he said.
Kapil Sibal also said that in order to make TRAI Act and Indian Telegraph Act more effective as per the current requirements, the government will review the rules and regulations to make them more effective.
"The draft National Telecom Policy (NTP)-2011 will review the regulator's TRAI Act-1997 and Indian Telegraph Act-1885 with a view to addressing regulatory inadequacies/impediments in effective discharge of its functions and other allied legislations in furtherance of the policy objectives,"he said.
The draft also calls for enacting a separate Spectrum Act which inter-alia deals with all issues connected with wireless (spectrum) licences and their terms and conditions including re-farming/ withdrawal of allotted spectrum, spectrum pricing, spectrum sharing, and spectrum trading.
(With additional information from PTI)
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