The working group for the 12th Five-Year Plan on telecom has suggested the grant of infrastructure status for the sector, besides the creation of a Telecom Finance Corporation that will facilitate the firms to access funds at competitive rates.
The total investment expected during the 12th Plan would be about Rs 650,000 crore. Out of this, the central sector investment would be about Rs 110,000 crore, while investment from private sector would stand at around Rs 540,000 crore, the working group said in its report.
“Telecom sector may also be allowed to access funding from Indian Infrastructure Finance Company…. Telecom Finance Corporation may be created as a vehicle to access funds at competitive rates to facilitate the funding needs of the sector if found necessary,” the report added.
In line with the proposals of the department of telecommunications, the working group has recommended the delinking of pricing of spectrum from license. It says spectrum pricing should be determined in a way that will not lose the primary objective of increased penetration of telecom services and availability to consumers. It has also suggested encouraging sharing of spectrum to achieve its efficient utilisation.
As for the 3G/4G subscriber base, it is expected to account for about 25 per cent of the total subscriber base by 2017. The total base is expected to reach 1200 million by the end of 12th plan from currently 875 million. While, the number of broadband subscribers is expected to be around 175 million by the same time period.
For security purposes, a centralised monitoring system has been proposed — with a funding of Rs 800 crore, besides a telecom testing and security certification centre with a funding of Rs 100 crore. To develop and deploy a pan-India secure network and network?based services such as email, VoIP, mobile communication for secured communication for government with a funding of Rs 450 crore has also been proposed.