The Centre may extend preferential status to Made in India products in the New Telecom Policy 2011, say news reports.
According to R. Chandrashekhar, secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), ?The broader telecom policy will include measures appropriate to encourage domestic telecom manufacturing. Some aspects have been considered by the committee of secretaries, and preferential status for domestic manufacturers is one of them.?
He added that DoT is waiting for recommendations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on manufacturing and expects to receive them by end-March.
He said Kapil Sibal, Minister of Telecommunications and IT is holding consultations with the industry and their views will be discussed by the Telecom Commission while finalising the NTP?11 draft.
Chandrashekhar added that the decision to encourage telecom manufacturing is in line with the recommendations made in the IT Task Force report being processed by the Department of Information Technology.
Meanwhile, the Wireless Planning Commission (WPC), a DoT wing for spectrum management, has also decided to reserve some radio waves for indigenously developed technologies and systems in the new National Frequency Allocation Plan of 2011.
