Sibal to unveil draft National Telecom Policy 2011

Amid rising concerns and lawsuits over allocation of telecom spectrum, a precious national resource, telecom minister Kapil Sibal will today unveil a draft of the new telecom policy that will focus on transparency and quick decision-making.

Amid rising concerns and lawsuits over allocation of telecom spectrum, a precious national resource, communications minister Kapil Sibal will on Monday unveil a draft of the new telecom policy that will focus on transparency and quick decision-making.

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The last telecom policy was unveiled over a decade ago in 1999 when India's phone subscribers base was barely a couple of million. It has since grown to nearly 900 million as of July.

Sibal has already said that one of the key issues is to de-link the award of telecom operator licence from the allocation of airwaves since the bundling of these two had invited criticism and a spate of legal disputes.

The policy also comes against the backdrop of the arrest of the former telecom minister A Raja for his policy on 2G spectrum which the government auditor says had resulted in presumptive losses worth billions of dollars to the exchequer.

The new telecom policy may also come out with more benefits for consumers like removal of roaming charges within the country. This move will increase the number of calls by subscribers out of their home circle, helping mobile service providers increase revenues.

Also on the cards is a stronger customer grievance addressal mechanism.