Cabinet may discuss National Telecom Policy tomorrow

NEW DELHI: The government is likley to take final decision tomorrow on the National Telecom Policy, which if approved will pave the way for abolishing of roaming charges and allowing users to use retain the same number across the country.

"NTP is part of Cabinet's meeting agenda tomorrow. We are expecting a positive decision on the same," a senior government official told reporters.

The policy, if approved, will replace the 13-year old New Telecom Policy 1999 through which telecom sector is governed.

Under NTP 2012, it has been proposed to de-link spectrum from licences, reduce number of different licences, give industry liberal mergers and acquisition norms and remove roaming charge burden for consumers.

In April, Department of Telecom (DoT) in its note sent to the Cabinet had sought approval for decision on certain issued relating to the introduction of Unified Licences regime which is vital for telecom companies whose licences have been cancelled by Supreme Court on February 2 and new companies planning to make investment in India.

DoT will start issuing new licences once the policy and Unified Licences are approved by the Cabinet.

After getting new licences, telecom companies will be able to run their services based on the infrastructure available with them, but for mobile telephony the companies will need spectrum to provide services.