Tech advances call for revamp of telecom policy: Govt

NEW DELHI: The government said on Wednesday there was a need for revamping the new telecom policy (1999), in the wake of unprecedented growth in teledensity, technology changes and issues of digital divide.

“In the context of unprecedented growth in teledensity, technology changes and issues of digital divide, the government feels that there is need for revamping the NTP’99. However, no time frame has been fixed at this stage,� minister of state for communications Shakeel Ahmad said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

To another query, he said the government had recovered liquidated damages of around Rs 53.7 crore from six private basic operators for non-fulfilment of roll-out obligations in terms of commencement of service, as well as in provisioning of direct exchange lines and village public telephones.

The six operators are Bharti Telenet (now Bharti Infotel), Tata Teleservices, Reliance Infocomm, Shyam Telelink, and HFCL Infotel.

To another question, Mr Ahmad said BSNL was augmenting its cellular network capacity from 6m lines to 9m lines, with further plans to expand its capacity by 15m lines till end ’05, to meet the growing demand for its service.