A new telecom policy, National Digital Communication Policy (NDCP) 2018 bagged the Union government’s approval on Wednesday. It is focused towards attracting over ₹7 lakh 26 crores investment and creating 4 million jobs in the telecom sector by 2022.
As per the draft policy reported by Economic Times, The main objective of NDCP is to penetrate high-speed broadband using modern technologies like optical fibres and 5G in India at an economical price.
Minister Manoj Sinha quoted, “Emerging technologies like 5G and Internet of Things warrant the need for a new consumer-centric and application-centric policy. The government aims to improve the reach of telecom services and applications riding on the network.”
With this policy, the government notified its target of setting 50 lakh public wi-fi hotspot by the end of 2020 thereafter increasing it to 10 million by 2022,
The Department of Telecommunication outlined the draft on May 1 this year. Apart from inviting investments and creating 40 lakh jobs the policy also mulls to boost the cash-starved telecom industry. The aim of the proposed policy was to increase the contribution of digital communication sector to 8%.
The government might review rationalise spectrum usage charges, license fee, the draft states and other such revenue to raise the contribution of India in global value chains.