The Cabinet on Thursday did not take up the much-anticipated National Telecom Policy (NTP) for discussion. If approved, the NTP would pave the way to free national roaming. The NTP topic was removed from the Cabinet’s agenda ahead of the meeting, the reason for which could not be ascertained. However, according to officials, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has asked for more details on the unified licence regime. NTP 2012, among other things, mentions a unified licencing authority and would include all types of licences, except broadcast.
Under the new rules, there would be no specification; a single operator can use it for any other technology after the purchase of spectrum. The policy is scheduled to replace the 13-year-old New Telecom Policy 1999, which currently governs the sector.
