(a) whether the government have any proposals for the liberalisation of telecom sector; and
(b) if so, the details of the steps taken by the Government in this regard?
(a) whether the government have any proposals for the liberalisation of telecom sector; and
(b) if so, the details of the steps taken by the Government in this regard?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI TAPAN SIKDAR)
(a) & (b): Availability of affordable and effective communications for the citizens is at the core of the vision and goal of New Telecom Policy, 1999 (NTP-99). NTP-99 also envisages transforming, in a time bound manner, the telecommunication Sector to a greater competitive environment in both urban and rural areas providing equal opportunities and level playing fields for all players. All the telecom services within the country namely, Basic, Cellular Mobile, Radio Paging, Internet, Very small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), Voice Mail, National Long Distance (NLD), Global Mobile Personal Communication Service, Public Mobile Radio Trunking Service (PMRTS) etc. have been opened up for private participation.