Telecom secretary MF Farooqui on Tuesday promised enough action to solve challenges faced by the mobile industry.
Speaking at an event organized by Assocham, telecom secretary said that the industry is poised for further growth.
Rajkumar Dhoot, president, Assocham, said that he was confident that the new DoT secretary would help resolve the challenges of the industry that had contributed so much to the national telecom objectives.
As per the National Telecom Policy 2012, India is looking for 100 percent rural teledensity by 2020 and 60 crore broadband connections.
“This requires cumulative Capex of nearly Rs 2.3 lakh crore in the next decade. While all of this can be achieved certain challenges and roadblocks need to be removed,” said TV Ramachandran, chairman, National Council on Telecom, Assocham.
Demands of telecom industry
Government should conduct spectrum auction on fair reasonable terms before it heads for elections.
There is a need for uniform guidelines on EMF and tower related issues preferably as an advisory from the Center to the states.
The Government should apply test of reasonability and proportionality in unilateral hefty penalties being imposed by DoT on telecom operators. The industry feels that there is a need for an appellate model for settling penalty related disputes.
The telecom industry wants the government to go ahead with preferential market access policy which will encourage domestic manufacturing but stay away from reservation in the sector.
The government should handle taxes and levies on handset manufacturers.
