New telecom policy to be unveiled in January

NEW DELHI, INDIA: A new telecom policy which may do away with roaming charges for subscribers within the country will be announced in January 2012, Communications Minister Kapil Sibal said on Friday.

"The policy (draft) I have already announced. Industry wants some more time to respond. We will give them time. Finalisation of the policy will happen in January instead of December," said Sibal at an event here.

Last month Sibal had unveiled the draft of the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2011 which proposes to remove roaming charges for subscribers within the country, exponentially increase broadband availability and speed and allow for mobile numbers to be ported to any part of the country.

The draft policy also proposes to accord the telecom industry the status of an infrastructure sector, which will help ease credit flow to companies for funding roll-out plans or expansion activities.

Earlier the policy was to be unveiled in December.

The currently existing policy was drafted in 1999 when India's telecom subscriber base was barely two million -- it has grown to around 900 million now.

Speaking on the recommendations given by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the National Telecom Policy, Sibal said the ministry has received it and will consider it.

"The TRAI recommendations have just come. We will consider it, call telecom commission... move to cabinet."