Draft NTP hints at a progressive policy: KPMG

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The draft National Telecom Policy (NTP) hints at a progressive policy that can propel the Indian telecom sector to new heights of growth, audit and research firm KPMG said Friday.

"The draft policy is a step forward to create a win-win ecosystem where the utmost beneficiary is the subscriber. A detailed policy framework with a longer-term view will help foster balanced growth and competition in the sector," said KPMG in its telecom report with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

"The industry takes immense pride and satisfaction in deliberating on the draft policy to help push the vision of providing the people of India with high quality, reliable and affordable converged telecommunications services," it added.

Communications minister Kapil Sibal had unveiled the draft of the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2011 in October, 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.

It 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.

The policy is scheduled to be unveiled in January.

Speaking about the industry expectation KPMG said the industry is perceiving the draft as forward looking and directionally encouraging but is keenly awaiting details on time-lines and manner of implementation.

The industry also expects the government of India to consider according 'critical infrastructure' status to active and passive infrastructure in the telecommunications and broadband sector and clear outline on the migration of existing licenses and spectrum to the new licensing framework.