The telecom minister of India, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision is to benchmark the Indian Telecom industry with the rest of the world. In order to make this happen, the licensing norms and regulations must change in India. The telecom minister, in an interview with the Financial Express, confirmed that the government would be aiming to change the regulations in the sector and make them more of light-touch while being focused on the end-consumers, the common people, and also on the marginalised section of the society.
India’s Complex Licensing Regime to Change Soon
Without delving much into the details of things that are about to change, the telecom minister said that India has a complex licensing regime when it comes to the telecom sector, and that has been the same for decades now. Vaishnaw said that the government is looking to rationalise it. According to the telecom minister, the government will benchmark India’s regulations with the norms in foreign countries because that is the vision of Modi. Vaishnaw has already confirmed that the government has already started working on the next set of reforms for the telecom sector. This new set of reforms will largely look to reduce the litigation involved in the sector. The telecom minister has said that within six months, the government should be ready with the next set of reforms for the telecom sector. The recent action from the government supports the statement from Vaishnaw. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) told the Supreme Court (SC) that it wants to reconsider its appeal on the ruling given by the telecom tribunal on the one-time spectrum charge (OTSC) issue. All of the bottlenecks that are being removed will help the telecom operators in investing much more comfortably in the upcoming 5G technology. Government support will really go a long way for the sector.
