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Journalism of Courage
New telecom policy doesnt go far enough in telephony but brings broadband up to speed
The National Telecom Policy 2012,cleared by the Union cabinet,is a year late,does not promise time-bound implementation on some key issues and is not a magic wand that can immediately spark investor confidence. It cannot sweep away the anxieties of the sector,which have accumulated since A. Rajas tenure. In fact,it supports the controversial policy of refarming the 800 MHz band and redistributing spectrum to fresh applicants. But from the consumers point of view,it could mark the beginning of a new golden age in communications. In mobile telephony,numbers will be portable across providers and circles in the country. Roaming charges will finally go,kicking and screaming. In an increasingly migratory population,the resulting ability to retain a number for a lifetime is valuable.
But perhaps the most significant proposal is to progressively hike the minimum broadband speed to 2 Mbps by 2015. This is how the world defines broadband and it is a shame that Indian providers have been allowed to pass off far slower services as the real thing. This will be a game-changer since pre-literate and semi-literate populations cant use text-based services and dont have the speeds to access multimedia. Higher speeds will ramp it up and,over the years,produce benefits across the developmental spectrum,in education,health,employment and e-governance apart from business and scientific research to enormous cumulative effect.
