MUMBAI: Seeking views from stakeholders on the new telecom policy, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today released a consultation paper on inputs for formulation of the National Telecom Policy 2018.

The Department of Telecommunications, through its letter dated 21 August 2017, requested the TRAI to suggest its policy inputs for formulation of the policy. Based on preliminary discussions with various stakeholders, including telecom service providers, telecom equipment manufacturers, industry associations, consulting firms, and cloud service providers, the regulator has prepared inputs for formulating the National Telecom Policy 2018 in line with the technological advancements in the sector and customer aspirations  for  digital services.

The regulator is seeking views of stakeholders for formulating the policy by 19 January 2018.

"National Telecom Policy-2018 can have twin goals viz. facilitate development of communication infrastructure and services to achieve inclusive socio-economic growth in the country," the paper stated.

“This policy would set the mission and objectives to be accomplished by the end of calendar year 2022, when India will be celebrating its 75 years of independence,” the paper added while underlining that the policy would also specify the strategies to accomplish such objectives as well as capacity building in general.

The paper has set out the mission and objectives for the policy besides outlining common strategies to help India leapfrog to amongst the top-50 nations in international rankings in terms of network readiness, communications systems and services, and to attract an investment of USD 100 billion in telecommunications.

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