As expected, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) today extended the deadline for comments from public and stakeholders on the National Digital Communications Policy, 2018, draft. The new deadline is May 1, which is a week later from the earlier deadline of May 25. “Several stakeholders had requested DoT for more time to provide their inputs on the draft policy, which is why the public and stakeholders can give their comments till June 1,” DoT said in a media statement earlier today.
The draft of National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 was announced on May 1, seeking comments from public and stakeholders. Before June 1, public and stakeholders are required to issue their comments on the NDCP 2018. Post the comments, the final paper of NDCP 2018 will be released, under which the government is planning to revolutionise the country by 2022.
Under the NDCP 2018, the government is aiming to provide 50 Mbps of broadband connection to every individual by 2022. The proposed investment for the upcoming telecom policy is $100 billion, which will help the contribution of telecom sector in the GDP from 6 to 8%.
The new telecom policy is also expected to generate four million new jobs in the digital communications sector. “The National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 (also) seeks to unlock the transformative power of digital communications networks - to achieve the goal of digital empowerment and well-being of the people of India,” said the DoT in its May 1 note released to the public.
Industry bodies such as COAI, Trai and other appreciated the new telecom policy. COAI even said that the NDCP 2018 would usher in the new era of telecom revolution in India. The policy also recognises mid-band spectrum from the 3 GHz to 24 GHz range for the next-generation networks. It also outlines the roadmap for 5G, AI, robotics, IoT, cloud computing and M2M technologies.
