Government Committed to Clarity & Regulatory Stability in Telecom Sector : Kapil Sibal
Union
Minister of Communications & IT Shri Kapil Sibal says the present
crisis being faced by India’s telecom sector is also a moment of
opportunity as Government stands committed to providing clarity &
regulatory stability to the industry.
Delivering a keynote address at the ongoing telecom sector GSMA Leadership Summit 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, Shri Sibal said long-term measures such as National Telecom Policy, National IT Policy and National Electronic & Manufacturing Policy will delineate the telecom sector from uncertainties, paving way for long term investments. He said India plans to move towards technology neutral Unified License , delinked from Spectrum, in order to exploit the benefits of convergence. Shri Sibal said India is aiming at a One Nation--- One License, Mobile Number Portability, Free Roaming regime, across services and service areas. Further, an entity can hold maximum 25% of the allotted spectrum. He said the rules have been liberalized allowing M&A between two firms together controlling 35% of market share, which can go up to 60% market share, on case to case basis.
Mr Sibal said all key stake holders--- industry, regulator and the political class--- need to work together to benefit consumers, empower poor and restore viability of industry.
Pointing out that no business can afford to ignore India’s 400 million strong upto-14 years youngsters ---more than population of USA or Europe--- who are born and brought up in ICT age , the Minister said India is already networking its 800 Universities and 24000 Colleges through Optical Fibre Cable to empower its youth. Mr Sibal pointed out that although rural teledensity has risen from 1.73% to 37.48% over the last 5 years, a large unsaturated rural market consisting of 2/3rd of the country’s population remains untapped by Telecom operators. While European markets have reached saturation with consumers demanding superior quality of products and service, Indian consumer market is far more diverse and multi-layered, comprising of not only the price sensitive,semi-literate poor class but also the rich intellectual class, which demands high quality of products and services.
Delivering a keynote address at the ongoing telecom sector GSMA Leadership Summit 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, Shri Sibal said long-term measures such as National Telecom Policy, National IT Policy and National Electronic & Manufacturing Policy will delineate the telecom sector from uncertainties, paving way for long term investments. He said India plans to move towards technology neutral Unified License , delinked from Spectrum, in order to exploit the benefits of convergence. Shri Sibal said India is aiming at a One Nation--- One License, Mobile Number Portability, Free Roaming regime, across services and service areas. Further, an entity can hold maximum 25% of the allotted spectrum. He said the rules have been liberalized allowing M&A between two firms together controlling 35% of market share, which can go up to 60% market share, on case to case basis.
Mr Sibal said all key stake holders--- industry, regulator and the political class--- need to work together to benefit consumers, empower poor and restore viability of industry.
Pointing out that no business can afford to ignore India’s 400 million strong upto-14 years youngsters ---more than population of USA or Europe--- who are born and brought up in ICT age , the Minister said India is already networking its 800 Universities and 24000 Colleges through Optical Fibre Cable to empower its youth. Mr Sibal pointed out that although rural teledensity has risen from 1.73% to 37.48% over the last 5 years, a large unsaturated rural market consisting of 2/3rd of the country’s population remains untapped by Telecom operators. While European markets have reached saturation with consumers demanding superior quality of products and service, Indian consumer market is far more diverse and multi-layered, comprising of not only the price sensitive,semi-literate poor class but also the rich intellectual class, which demands high quality of products and services.
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