NATIONAL DIGITAL COMMUNICATION POLICY, 2018

NATIONAL DIGITAL COMMUNICATION POLICY, 2018

The National Digital Communication Policy-2018 was launched by the Government of India in the year 2018 with a vision to fulfil the information and communication needs of citizens and enterprises through the establishment of a ubiquitous, resilient, secure, accessible and affordable Digital Communications Infrastructure. This has led to improvement in the telecom infrastructure and increase in the coverage and affordability of the telecommunication services across the country. In last six years, following improvements have taken place in respect of infrastructure, affordability of broadband, coverage etc. promoting digital empowerment and creating a vibrant digital ecosystem:-

Further, the Government is implementing various schemes through Digital Bharat Nidhi (erstwhile Universal Service Obligation Fund) to provide the telecom coverage to all uncovered  villages. And, the Union Cabinet has approved the Amended BharatNet Program with funding of ₹1,39,579 crore for extending the scope of BharatNet to provide broadband connectivity to all 2.64 lakh Gram Panchayats  and approximately 3.8 lakh villages on demand basis across 28 States and 8 UTs.

To encourage the competition in the telecom sector and ensure a level playing field the Government has established the independent regulatory authority i.e. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in the year 1997. In pursuance of above objective, TRAI has issued from time to time number of recommendations, regulations, orders and directives to deal with issues coming before it and provided the required direction for the evolution of a multi operator, multi service, open, competitive market.

Satellite Communication Reforms-2022 by the Government have simplified the regulatory procedures and reduced financial charges on the licensees. The recent Space Sector reforms further enabled larger participation of non-government entities for building/leasing, owning and operating the satellite systems for providing satellite-based services. Many operators have applied for authorization for providing satellite communication over India, including connectivity in remote and under-served areas. Total 5474 Gram Panchayats have been connected through satellite.

The various steps taken by the Government to ensure a transparent and efficient spectrum management structure to address the concerns of telecom operators are as below:-

This information was given by the Minister of State for Communications, Dr.Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.