The Telecom Commission has approved the National Digital Communications Policy(NDCP). The policy aims to garner investment of more than $100 billion and create four million new jobs by 2022. It also aims to improve ease of doing business and use new-age technologies for large scale connectivity.
“The telecom policy has been approved now for sending to Cabinet (in two weeks),” said Aruna Sundararajan, telecom secretary and chairperson of the Telecom Commission.
To track and review the implementation of this new policy, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will create an in-house monitoring mechanism. The policy will also be having provisions for rationalizing levies of the telecom sector that pays a third of every Rupee earned as tax or charges.
“NDCP 2018 is a welcome step for the industry with ambitious targets… speed in implementation will be the key to achieve the set out goals,” said Mritunjay Kapur, leader of telecom, media and technology at KPMG India.
But senior executives of the industry are unsure of the policy achieving its targets. “Attracting $100 billion of investments by 2022 seems utopian currently in an over leveraged telecom market where competitive intensity refuses to decline and profitability refuses to rise,” said Sanjay Kapoor, former chief executive officer of Bharti Airtel.
