According to the Department of Electronics and IT, the government is considering exempting private telecom companies from following a few provisions under the preferential market access (PMA) policy, says news reports.
The government is planning to amend a clause in the draft PMA policy which mandated that along with state-owned telecom companies, private mobile phone operators would also have procure ?security sensitive? equipment from domestic telecom-equipment manufacturer.
The proposed relaxation in PMA provisions comes through following the Prime Minister’s Office putting the policy on hold and calling for a review amidst protests from over 50-odd global trade associations and domestic telecom industry bodies.
The groups had claimed that a blanket extension of the PMA rules to the private sector would be restrictive and lead to market distortions, especially since the Indian telecom industry relies heavily on imports to meet its requirements. They also claimed that the ?security implication? of a telecom electronic product does not depend on the ?location of manufacture? but on ?how it is manufactured.?
