New Delhi: The government will form a core
group comprising senior officials of Department of Telecom in
the next two-three weeks to promote and oversee localisation
of telecom equipment manufacturing in the country.
The group will function under the chairmanship of DoT
Secretary, PJ Thomas.
This was disclosed at a meeting Telecom Minister A Raja
had with CEOs of telecom equipment manufacturers in New Delhi on Wednesday.
India has about 500 million wireless subscribers and is
adding 12 million new users every month. The operators depend
largely on foreign equipment manufacturers for setting up
networks.
There are other advantages of localisation of products
and equipment. For example, if the equipment is manufactured
in the country, it would be easier for the security agencies
to understand their mechanism.
At the meeting, Raja asked the industry to actively
participate in the promotion of equipment manufacturing and
assured all possible help in this regard.
"The Minister said that for India to grow we should have
more industries on local manufacturing," NK Goyal, president,
Communications and Manufacturing Association of India, a body
for promotion of the telecom sector, said.
The meeting also discussed issues such as investments, manufacturing and Indian intellectual property rights (IPR).
"The agenda of the meeting was the minister and Telecom
Commission chairman wanted to know the problems we are facing.
"The minister stated why the production is less and how
it can be improved, and how the government can support," Rajiv
Mehrotra, Chairman and Managing Director of Vihan Network
Limited (VNL) said.
The industry requested the government to provide R&D
(Research and Development) support. And the government
recognised that it was required.
This is the second meeting in a row Raja had with the
the telecom industry. The minister yesterday had met the CEOs
of telecom service providers.
He is likely to meet the Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) tomorrow to understand the issues and challenges faced
by them.
Bureau Report