Faculties of top Indian institutes IIT, IIM and IISc have written to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal to expeditiously operationalise funds proposed to be around Rs 17,500 crore for developing domestic capabilities and reduce dependence on imports in the sector.
"We have written to the Telecom Minister and DoT for release of telecom funds. The next Parliament session is expected to start soon and the next government can take up this issue on priority basis," the Telecom Centers of Excellence Director J Jena said.
The Telecom Centers of Excellence is public-private initiative for capacity building to sustain telecom growth. Representatives of these top institutes are a part of the organisation. The letter, signed by 35 professors belonging to Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Management and Indian Institute of Sciences, said government should without any delay operationalise the Telecom Manufacturing Promotion Fund (TMPF), the Telecom Research and Development Fund (TRDF) and the Telecom Entrepreneurship Development Fund (TEDF)