Jyotiraditya Scindia: New Telecom Act To Be Notified In 180 Days

Jyotiraditya Scindia: New Telecom Act To Be Notified In 180 Days

He was speaking to the media while launching the theme of India Mobile Congress 2024

The Union Minister for Telecom, Jyotiraditya Scindia has held that the government will notify the rules of the new Telecommunications Act in the next 180 days.

The minister said, "It is important for us to have a firewall to protect our country, citizens and businesses. We are committed to that. We have notified the new Indian Telecom Act and the best pages of a 130-year-old Act, have been confined to the flames of history. A new robust, modern Act was notified late last month.

He added, “I commit to you that within 180 days, which is our deadline, we will notify rules so that all of you can walk down that path with complete confidence that the government stands by your side."

Last year, the central government passed the Bill in Parliament, making it the Telecom Act. It aims to amend and consolidate the law relating to development, expansion and operation of telecom services and networks.

Recently, after an official notification, certain provisions of the Act became law. These include the government can control the telecom services of the public and private operators on grounds of security, public order, or prevention of offences.

The minister apprised that the fastest 5G rollout in the country was now accompanied by a commitment towards 6G. "Taking the 6G technology forward for which we are in the process of getting almost 127 global patterns, along with setting up 100 5G case labs.”

He added that another area of achievement was the production of telecom equipment. “The production of telecom has been a huge success, with 3400 crores of investment, 50,000 crores of sales and a ten-and-half-thousand crores worth of exports. This means, creating almost 17,800 new jobs across India.”

Contributing to the idea of Atmnirbhar Bharat, Scindia said, "The negative trade balance of telecom equipment has been narrowed down to Rs.4000 crores from 201, when it was Rs.88,000 crores.

On, launching the 4G services by the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the minister stated that the Department of Telecommunications was making a performance management unit (PMU) to set a daily target for the launch of 4G services.

The Union minister assured, "I can commit that along with Tejas, BSNL, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) and C-DOT (Centre For Development Of Telematics), we are forming a PMU (project management unit), which will set daily targets. Those targets will be monitored, by the Secretary and myself.”

He revealed that the BSNL was developing its own 4G stake, although it was easy for the state-owned telco to pick up someone else's technologies. However, it chose the harder route.

Scindia furthered, "As the Prime Minister says, we must not only become the supplier of services but also the supplier of the product, the BSNL chose the route of developing its own 4G stake.”

Emphasizing the changes in the country's telecom sector, he said, "The sector has seen the delta changes as far as the development and adoption of 4G to 6G is concerned."

Replying to the question on the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) depositing Rs.92 crores to clear bond of interest, he stated that the operations of MTNL would be transferred to BSNL and the monetization of assets would take place to pay off the liabilities. He assured there won’t be any default as it will be backed by the government.