According to Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Communications and IT, all regulatory issues related to the forthcoming 2G auctions will be addressed before the auction begins in November.
Sibal was addressing the audience at the curtain raiser for ?India Internet Governance Conference (IIGC)? ? a conference to be held in October in New Delhi, which will focus on wide ranging topics like network neutrality, global internet governance models, effective management of the transition to IPv6, providing broadband access to all and challenges posed by internet to traditional media. The event was organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in association with the Ministry of Communications & IT and the Internet Society.
He added that the bidding for the upcoming auction ought to be aggressive in order to ensure that the sector remains competitive. Also, Sibal urged the stakeholders to collaborate and develop a clear-cut roadmap for the sector. With regard to the country’s internet space, Sibal said that no restriction will be placed on usage as the internet may be considered an indispensible tool for governance in a free democracy, which helps deliver services to the people transparently and eliminates the go-betweens between the government and the people.
Other speakers at the event included R Chandrashekhar, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & IT, N Ravi Shankar, Administrator, Universal Service Obligation Fund and chief executive officer, Bharat Broadband Project and Anu Madgavkar, India Head and Senior Fellow, McKinsey Global Institute.
According to Chandrashekhar internet impacts both the users and non-users. With the use of internet, public interest is at stake and all stakeholders need to reconcile the divergent issues and then take them up appropriately at the international forum.
Shankar shared with the audience that National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) for providing broadband connectivity to panchayats and National Telecom Policy 2012 has been rolled out to embrace the internet revolution in the country. NOFN has been termed as a public-private-panchayat partnership as the effort is to connect the village panchayats with the rest of the country.
Madgavkar pointed out that India ranks low when it comes to internet penetration and contributes directly 1.6 per cent of GDP which amounts to $30 billion. It could reach $100 billion by 2015 if we are able to connect the nation virtually. He added that to achieve this target five things need to be done. These include taking the internet to smaller towns, cities and villages, reduction in total cost of ownership; enabling large scale digital literacy, increase in the range of internet use in new areas and a favourable business environment.
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