At the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, GSMA Conferred Government Leadership Award 2023 to India for implementing Best Practices in telecom policy and regulation. GSMA, representing more than 750 mobile operators and 400 companies in the telecom ecosystem, recognises one country annually. India was declared the winner in the ceremony held at Mobile World Congress Barcelona on February 27.
Speaking on occasion, The Minister for Communications, Electronics and IT and Railways, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, said, “GSMA Awards represent global recognition of the telecom reforms carried out by PM Shri Narendra Modi ji. We all have seen the effect of reforms. RoW permissions which used to take more than 230 days, now get approval within 8 days. More than 85% mobile tower clearances are now instantaneous. With nearly 1 Lakh sites in 387 districts, India’s 5G roll-out is one of the fastest in the world. The Indian telecom sector has emerged as a sunrise sector, and the whole world has taken note of this rise.”
“Indian telecom sector has emerged as a sunrise sector and the whole world has taken note of this rise,” Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s visionary leadership gets global recognition. In line with the ‘Digital India’ vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government implemented structural and procedural reforms in September 2021, followed by a series of initiatives. These included licensing reforms, the launch of the PM Gati Shakti Sanchar Portal, streamlining of Right of Way (RoW), spectrum reforms, satellite reforms, and more.
As a Policy Spotlight, India won the Government Leadership Award 2023 for the following:
Telecom Market Context
India has the most affordable handsets, data plans, and extensive 4G Coverage. In addition, the significant policy reforms by the government in the mobile sector and broadband infrastructure development are recognised in this segment.
Policy, Regulatory Action, Spectrum Auction
Right of Way (RoW) policy, the framework for small cell deployment on street furniture, and lowering the reserve price of spectrum in 5G auctions are considered in this segment. India’s biggest spectrum auction for 5G was held in July 2022, where 71% of the spectrum on auction was sold for $19 billion.
India Stack, the collective term for India’s innovative digital public services, enables users to authenticate themselves from anywhere using Aadhaar, India’s unique Digital ID. The government has launched Digital India Programme, and digital skills and infrastructure readiness are considered top priorities. According to a recent report by Salesforce on the Global Digital Skills Index, India has topped the list of digital skills readiness among 19 surveyed countries, scoring 63 out of 100, compared to the global index score of 33.
TRAI and DoT
Likewise, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and DoT have been working with the GSMA on addressing key bottlenecks.
This category considered the latest Digital Personal Data Protection Draft Bill 2022 and the National Data Governance Framework Policy (NDGFP), governing non-personal data and data sharing principles. However, these bills are yet to be adopted.
Climate action
The government initiated pilot projects to develop eco-friendly solutions for the Indian telecom sector.
DoT’s efforts in forming the India 5G Alliance and offering the 5G Testbed for free for recognised start-ups and SMEs.
Bharti Airtel was the first to launch 5G in India at IMC 2022. Global telecom leaders have also hailed India for the fastest 5G roll-outs. So far, Airtel 5G is available in 141 Cities, and Jio 5G is available in 304 Cities. Just yesterday, Airtel announced that its 5G is available in all states of India, and 10 million unique 5G users are enjoying Airtel 5G Plus services. Airtel has also created 5G Experience zones for everyone to experience the technology across its 1000-plus retail across India. India is poised to become one of the largest 5G markets in the world in the coming years.
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