HomeTelecom NewsNational Telecom Policy expected to go for cabinet nod in few weeks, says telecom secretary

National Telecom Policy expected to go for cabinet nod in few weeks, says telecom secretary

Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan spoke to CNBC-TV18 about whether the government plans to provide relief to the telecom players by lowering spectrum usage charges and licence fees charges.

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By Timsy Jaipuria  September 5, 2018, 1:28:07 PM IST (Published)

National Telecom Policy expected to go for cabinet nod in few weeks, says telecom secretary
Earlier in May this year, the government had come out with the draft National Telecom Policy, where they had given a moratorium for debt repayment but left the spectrum usage charges and licence fees unchanged.


Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan spoke to CNBC-TV18 about whether the government plans to provide relief to the telecom players by lowering these charges.

"Policy has clearly stated what will be the key objectives - one, to get universal broadband out to all and two, to create the investments which will ensure India has a next generation ready telecom network," Sundararajan said.

In the policy there are enough pointers which say in what direction the policy will move. “Once the policy is approved by the cabinet then there will be various groups which will be sitting down and working what should be an appropriate policy going forward,” she said.

The telecom policy is expected to go for cabinet nod in the next couple of weeks. Talking about the NPA issues of the sector, she said, "The long-term fundamentals of the industry are very robust because India today has only 30 percent internet broadband and there is huge scope to grow that."

“Once the current period of consolidation and stabilization is over, the industry will definitely come back to health which is why we do not foresee any problems on the NPA front,” Sundararajan added.
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