Govt focused on enabling policies to strengthen digital infra: DoT official

Digitisation and growth-oriented initiatives have enabled India to take progressive strides, and the government is focused on policies in areas like licencing framework, spectrum management and broadband to strengthen digital infrastructure, a senior DoT official said on Tuesday.

Telecom and IT industries have achieved a level of maturity and built capabilities for business, technology, innovations and an appetite for startups, T K Paul, Member (Technology), Department of Telecom (DoT), said.

Speaking at a virtual event organised by Broadband India Forum (BIF), Paul said, "(The) government is looking at a series of policy initiatives to propel India to this path of growth of digital infrastructure and the digital economy as a whole".

This involves having a fresh look at issues, be it a licensing and legislative framework, spectrum management, new technology and innovations, broadband infrastructure, ease of doing business, manufacturing, and research and development.

"We shall continue to strive to provide an enabling and progressive policy environment for the digital communications sector to continue to thrive and add value to the nation's economy and socio-economic prosperity," Paul said.

India is rapidly building its digital infrastructure in a holistic manner, he said, outlining 'the contribution of key initiatives such as the JAM trinity (Jan-Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile), UPI and broadband-related policies in driving such growth.

"For manufacturing too, the DoT's Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme of Rs 12,195 crore for local production of telecom equipment would provide a boost to the domestic manufacturing ecosystem, while also strengthening our position in the global supply chain through export opportunities," he said.

Telecom companies are adopting new and emerging technologies like virtualisation, the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain, and all these are likely to play a significant role in automating networks.

These new-age technologies along with the introduction of the much-awaited 5G, would enable faster internet speeds, new applications and numerous machine-to-machine conversations, he noted.