DoT Expects New Telecom Policy by April 2018

Department of telecom, Ministry of Telecom hopes to place the proposed New Telecom Policy before the Cabinet for approval by April this year. The draft of the much-awaited policy will be ready in the next 2-3 weeks for incorporating stakeholder response and the Telecom Department expects to seek Cabinet nod on the proposed policy sometime in April, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said on the sidelines of a FICCI-EY event.

"The consultations on the new telecom policy (NTP) is nearly over and in the next 2-3 weeks, we will be in a position to table the draft document and then people will be able to respond to that," Sundararajan said.

She said on futuristic technologies like machine-to- machine (M2M) communication, India is looking to play a far bigger role than just being a user. "We also want to be the technology supplier and manufacturer, be it low-cost sensors or software platform for M2M communication," she said.