India to unveil draft telecom policy on Monday

The telecom ministry is set to unveil the much-awaited policy and guidelines overhauling the decade-old regulations in the country, next week.

Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal will announce the draft National Telecommunications Policy 2011 (NTP 2011) at 2 pm on Monday, according to an official invitation from the ministry to the media.

The new policy is expected to set the pricing mechanism for spectrum, including revising of spectrum allocation rules, pricing of 2G radio airwaves, rules for merger and acquisitions, renewal of telecoms licences and sharing of spectrum.

Under the current M&A rules, an operator is not permitted to hold 10 per cent or more in two competing operators in a telecoms zone. Also, new licensees are not allowed to sell out and exit within three years of operations. 

At present, telecom regulations in the country are governed under the National Telecom Policy (NTP) formulated in 1999 ot NTP 1999 for short.

According to industry experts, the draft NTP 2011 proposes to do away with mobile roaming charges. At present, roaming charges for incoming calls are levied at Re1 per minute, while that for outgoing calls cost about Rs1.50.