The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has constituted six stakeholder advisory committees which will give inputs for fostering the growth of the sector and also for resolving key issues.
The move was spearheaded by Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Union Minister of Communications and Development of North Eastern Region. This move is significant as this is the first time that structured committees have been set up to cover all the broad segments of the telecom industry. This will ensure that an on-going dialogue takes place between the government and the stakeholders.
The committees have been constituted for original equipment makers (OEMs), telecom service providers (TSPs), the satellite communications ecosystem, internet service providers (ISPs), electronics, and an advisory committee of academicians and research and development in the telecommunications sector. In addition, the committees will be represented by industry associations, private firms, NITI Aayog, public sector undertakings (PSUs) as well as officials from the DoT.
Further, the members in the OEM committee will be represented by global firms such as Ericsson, Nokia, and Cisco, Indian players like HFCL, STL, VVDN Technologies, and the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), among others. The TSP committee will include five telecom services firms and members from the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Global System of Mobile Communi-cations Association (GSMA), among others.
Furthermore, the first meetings of the committees are expected to take place soon, and members have been asked to share items for discussion as well as goals and targets for their respective areas.
