Draft National Frequency Allocation Plan 2011

The current national telecom policy of India was badly drafted and dishonestly implemented. After the 2G scam a need was felt to have a new telecom policy for India. In this background, the national telecom policy of India 2011 was proposed.

This is a good step in right direction. However, many crucial aspects have still not attracted the attention of Indian government. The proposed National Telecom Policy 2011 must be Techno Legal in nature, suggests Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based law firm Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India. It must be legally effective and technologically sound. Presently, issues like Encryption, VOIP, Satellite Phones, Spectrum Allocation, etc are not properly addressed by Indian Government, informs Dalal.

Similarly, development of a National Frequency Allocation Plan (NFAP) of India 2011 is also urgently required. This is very important for the growth of Wireless Communication in India. With a greater access to wireless communication methods, the aim of having maximum Internet Connectivity can also be achieved, suggests Dalal.

However, there seems to be a disagreement among various government departments regarding the NFAP 2011 and it must be resolved before proceeding further. Now an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGM) will consider all the available views and would finalise the NFAP 2011.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has also sought the views of the Planning Commission on how to efficiently use spectrum. DoT has also asked for vacation of an additional 80 MHz from the defence services to meet the needs of the telecom industry. The EGM has to take the final call in this regard very soon.

New Telecom Policy Of India 2011

Telecom policy of a nation is very crucial for the development of information and communication technology (ICT) related growth. The basic requirement of a good telecom policy is that it must be in national interest.

The telecom policy of India has been in controversies in the past. As a matter of fact, the present telecom policy of India is anti common man. It is going against the interests of telecom consumers of India.

This is also the reason why 2G scam happened in India and investigations are in the process of revealing the loss that occurred to national exchequer. India needs consumer friendly telecom policy to break the vicious circle that has engulfed the telecom sector of India, says Praveen Dalal, managing partner of Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India.

Finally, India has given some hints that more productive telecom policies would be adopted very soon. In an attempt to boost manufacturing of indigenous hardware and mobile equipments, the Centre may grant a preferential status to products that have been made in India. This has been stipulated under the new Telecom Policy of India 2011.

Even the Wireless Planning Commission (WPC), a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) segment for spectrum management, has also decided to reserve some radio waves for indigenously developed technologies and systems in the new National Frequency Allocation Plan of 2011.

Even a Telecom Security Council of India has been proposed by the DoT that would look into security related aspects of hardware and network equipments. This is a good step as India’s dependence upon foreign players for its cyber security and telecom security is not conducive for telecom growth in India.

However, issues pertaining to mobile security in India and mobile cyber security in India are still to be addressed. As more and more mobile connections would be taken in India, the chances of their abuse and cyber crimes against them would also increase. Till now there is no mobile security policy of India.

Let us hope, the proposed Telecom Policy of India 2011 would also address these issues and many more such issues.