Kolkata: The Indian Telegraph Right of Way (Amendment) Rules, 2022, as a major reform measure will facilitate faster and easier deployment of telegraph infrastructure to enable speedy 5G rollouts in the country, the Economic Survey 2022-23 said Tuesday.
The Survey added that 5G services would impact consumers directly through higher data transfer speeds and lower latency, and 5G use cases developed by telcos and start-ups in education, health, worker safety and smart agriculture amongst others are now being deployed across the country.
“The government has brought in procedural reforms in wireless licensing, including delicensing of various frequency bands to promote innovation, manufacturing and export, and the National Frequency Allocation Plan 2022 (NFAP) provides a broad regulatory framework, identifying which frequency bands are available for cellular mobile services, Wi-fi, sound and television broadcasting, radio navigation for aircraft and ships, and other wireless communications,” the Survey said.
The NFAP, it said, would give guidance to the users of spectrum to plan their networks in accordance with the relevant frequency and parameters provided therein. Given that spectrum is a scarce resource, the NFAP is useful in aligning spectrum usage with demands from emerging technologies in an efficient manner.
The Survey added that the launch of 5G services was a landmark achievement in telecommunications in India and telecom reforms and a clear policy direction led to the spectrum auction of 2022 garnering the highest-ever bids.
“However, some of the smaller tariffs should be done away with to support local businesses and bring ease of doing business. ICEA recommends that the tariff of 2.75 per cent (including social welfare surcharge), among other smaller tariffs which have no beneficial impact and only create a burden for legitimate manufacturers, is removed,” Mohindroo said in a statement.