Telecom sector will witness more reforms; industry should do its bit: Vaishnaw

Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the telecom sector in the country will witness more reforms and asserted that the industry too will have to do its bit
A file photo of Union Ashwini Vaishnaw
A file photo of Union Ashwini Vaishnaw

New Delhi: Minister for Communications Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the telecom sector in the country will witness more reforms in the coming years and asserted that the industry too will have to do its bit and reciprocate by improving the quality of service significantly. He was addressing the Annual Flagship Event 2022 of the Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA), an apex industry body representing digital infrastructure providers in India, on September 14. The Minister of State (MoS) for Communications Devusinh Chauhan and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

Vaishnaw said that service quality parameters have to be significantly increased, and the Telecom Department should approach the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in this regard. He advised the Telecom Department to send a new consultation paper to TRAI to significantly increase the quality-of-service parameters, almost making it 3X or 4X of what it is today.

Ashwini Vaishnaw: Telecom providers should improve quality of services

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 percent to 50 percent coverage. But we are targeting a very aggressive timeline and the government has given a target of 80 percent coverage in a short time frame, he added.

Vaishnaw said that the industry, including telecom operators and infrastructure providers, should move full steam ahead on improving the quality of services in the country now that 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, he added.

'India transforming from developing to developed country'

Minister of State (MoS) for Communications Devusinh Chauhan has said that our country is transforming from a developing country into a developed country and the telcom sector's role is crucial in achieving this. He referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Reform, Perform and Transform should and said that it should be the slogan of this sector to move ahead.

Chauhan said that the last mile connectivity is very crucial for the development of the telecom sector and he advised telecom operators to work hard in this direction. He further said that 5G connectivity should play a major role in providing health, education, mining, transportation, logistic fields etc.

The theme of this year's Annual Flagship Event was "Gati Shakti Vision For 5G & Beyond".

During the event, EY-DIPA White paper titled 'GatiShakti — paving the way for an accelerated digital infrastructure rollout in India' was also unveiled. The paper focuses on the fact that the advent of 5G is going to be a game changer for India and is likely to have a profound impact on the socio-economic fabric. 5G is expected to lead to a surge in data traffic, which will necessitate upgrading existing networks and build new Greenfield ones. with a key focus on the future of trends in telecommunication industry.

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