India committed to assist world in providing most cost-effective ICT services: MoS Devusinh Chauhan
Oct 13, 2021
New Delhi [India], October 13 : India is committed to assist the world in providing the most cost-effective ICT services for accelerating digital transformation by sharing its best practices and knowledge with other nations, said Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan on Tuesday.
He said this while he was participating in the Ministerial Roundtable Session of the 50th-anniversary edition of International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Digital World 2021. The programme was hosted by the Vietnam Government.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister stated that India's telecom policy is driven by the objectives of affordability, accessibility and availability of state of art ICT facilities to every citizen.
India under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ushered historical telecom reforms to ensure the most affordable telecom services which will lead to digital transformation to the next level, he said.
As per the press release issued by the Ministry of Communications, these telecom reforms mainly include an increase in spectrum tenure from 20 to 30 years, rationalization of bank guarantee requirements for a license, no Spectrum Usage Charge (SUC) for spectrum acquired in future spectrum auctions and allowing 100 per cent foreign investment through automatic route besides addressing liquidity issues of Telecom Service Providers (TSPs),
"This reformative process will unleash the true potential of the Indian telecom sector to the benefit of all sections including those who live in the remotest part of the country. The vision of the Prime Minister of India will also inspire other countries to charter the same path as adopted by India," he added.
Chauhan further stated that India has not only been working on affordability but has made accessibility one of the prime objectives of telecom policy. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi has mandated that all six lakh villages of India should be connected through an optical fibre."
Deputy Secretary-General of the ITU appreciated the role of the Prime Minister of India in supporting the telecom revolution in the country. He further stated that if transformative initiatives are taken at the highest level, their chances of success and potential increase manifold, of which India is a fine example.
In the above session, the Prime Minister of Vietnam and Ministers of Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Lao P.D.R., Myanmar and Vietnam also participated.
