Draft telecom policy needs to be substantive, not just a mission statement

The draft talks about doubling annual investment in the telecom sector to ₹1 trillion, creating 1 million jobs in this industry, along with reskilling another 1 million, achieving 90% 5G population

The new draft telecom policy, coming seven years after the 2018 National Digital Communications Policy, is ambitious in its goals and mission. The challenge will be in its execution, like it was in the case of the 2018 policy (with a different name) or the ones before that. The draft National Telecom Policy (NTP), 2025, has rightly highlighted job creation as a priority area, besides listing 4G, 5G, and broadband coverage targets, including in rural areas. However, it falls short on near-term delivery objectives. The target year for the policy goals is 2030, which is five years away. As technology, which is the backbone of telecom, is changing at a fast clip, it’s important to have short-term goals in policy documents for the sector. So, when stakeholders comment on the draft policy over the next three weeks, they should bring out some of the realities of the telecom sector, thereby helping the policymakers set objectives that combine aspiration with feasibility.

 

The draft talks about doubling annual investment in the telecom sector to ₹1 trillion, creating 1 million jobs in this industry, along with reskilling another 1 million, achieving 90 per cent 5G population coverage and rolling out fixed-line broadband to 100 million households nationwide by 2030.  It also proposes incentives for companies to promote fixed-line broadband in rural areas as well as support to smaller internet-service providers for last-mile connectivity. Incentives for domestic manufacturers of telecom equipment and doubling India’s telecom research & development spend within five years are among the other focus areas.

 

As mission statements, these goals capture the wish list of the government, but the final policy must equally focus on the road map to help the stakeholders reach the finishing line. For example, the draft policy fleetingly refers to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in preventing cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns, but it does not delve into the role of AI in relation to jobs in telecom. It’s also silent on the duopoly debate or the risk of the industry getting limited to only two players and the impact of such a development on consumers. Neither does the draft policy discuss the future of the state-owned telecom companies. The issue of financially stressed private telcos and the resultant problems are also not within the policy purview. Some other contemporary subjects, including spectrum auctions and to-be-launched satellite communication broadband, do not form a part of the policy document in any meaningful manner.  

 

The origin of telecom policies in India dates back to 1994, just before the rollout of commercial mobile phone services. Formulated under the leadership of then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, NTP 1994 signified liberalisation in the sector, with increased focus on accessibility, private-sector participation, and better service quality. The policy faced many roadblocks, prompting the government to roll out the next document in 1999 to accelerate liberalisation. NTP 1999, under then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, set targets for teledensity and internet access, while also introducing a revenue-sharing regime for licence fees. Subsequently, there have been several other telecom-policy documents, which are more mission statements than anything else. The current 20-page draft, with a significant thrust on Make-in-India amid geopolitical disruptions, is a good reference material for a student of telecom. As a policy manual, it needs to be more substantive.