The Department of Telecom (DoT) is likely to float draft of the National Telecom Policy 2018 within a week for public comments, an official source said.
“The draft (of the NTP 2018) is very likely to be issued within a week,” said the source, who is closely associated with policy draft formulation.
The NTP 2018 is expected to present a growth road map of the Indian telecom sector, which is reeling under a severe financial stress, for a period of next five years.
The Economic Survey 2017-18 tabled in Parliament last week noted the telecom sector is going through stress due to a huge debt pile, tariff war and irrational spectrum costs and called for policy measures to minimise over-bidding of assets during auctions.
Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan last month had said the government will look at positioning the telecom sector primarily as an enabler to boost the economy rather than a revenue earner under the new NTP.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended road map for NTP 2018 that should be able to address global requirements and attract investments of about $100 billion by 2022.