Minister calls upon industry to do its bit
BBN Bureau
NEW DELHI/September 15-2022: The telecom sector in the country will witness more reforms in coming years, said the Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw adding that the industry too will have to do its bit and reciprocate by improving quality of service significantly.
The minister said this on Wednesday (Sept 14) in New Delhi while addressing the Annual Flagship Event 2022 of Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA), an apex industry body representing digital infrastructure providers industry in India.
Ashwini Vaishnaw said that service quality parameters have to be significantly increased, and the Telecom Department should approach Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in this regard.
New consultation paper
He advised the Telecom Department to send a new consultation paper to TRAI for significantly increasing the quality-of-service parameters almost making it 3X or 4X of what it is today.
The minister said that the journey of 5G is going to be very exciting and noted that many countries took multiple years to reach 40 per cent to 50 per cent coverage.
“But we are targeting a very aggressive timeline and the government has given a target of 80 per cent coverage in short time frame and we should definitely cover at least 80 per cent in a very short timeframe,” he added.
The minister said that the industry including Telecom operators and infrastructure providers should move full steam ahead on improving quality of services in the country, adding that now a slew of reforms had been announced and more were lined up.
The minister said initiatives cannot be one-sided, and the equation has to be reciprocal.
The minister of state for Communications, Devusinh Chauhan has said the country is transforming from ‘developing country’ into ‘developed country’ and the telecom sector’s role is crucial in achieving this.
He referred Prime Minister’s Reform, Perform and Transform, which should be the slogan of this sector to move ahead.
Chauhan said the last mile connectivity is very crucial for the development of telecom sector, and he advised the telecom operators to work hard in this direction.
He further said that the 5G connectivity should play a major role in providing health, education, mining, transportation, logistics fields etc. “DIPA should play a pivotal role in this regard,” he added.
