Government to Release National Telecom Policy 2018 Draft on May 1: Telecom Secretary

We are at the business end of April 2018 and still the government is yet to release the National Telecom Policy 2018. However, that’s going to change very soon as Aruna Sundararajan, Telecom Secretary and Chairman of the Telecom Commission today confirmed that the draft for the National Telecom Policy 2018 would be released on May 1, seeking public comments. “The direction of the new policy, that we hope you will see as early as on May 1, will be reform-oriented, it will be investor friendly and bring down the cost of compliances,” Sundararajan said while speaking at the Annual General Meeting of US industry body Amcham.

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The government originally planned to release the NTP 2018 in March 2018, however, that didn’t happen. The draft of the NTP will be open for public comments for 15-20 days post the release. “It (NTP) will hopefully trigger innovation, will focus on Make in India and provide opportunities for partnering with a lit of companies,” Sundararjan said, as reported by Press Trust of India.

She further added, “After completion of public comments, the Department of Telecom will start inter-ministerial consultation on the policy and thereafter approach Cabinet for final approval.”

The National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2018 will set the mission and objectives to be completed by the end of 2022 in the Indian telecommunication sector. India would be celebrating its 75 years of independence in 2022. Trai, in the past, stated that it would be specifying the strategies as well in the NTP to accomplish the objectives in the telecom policy.