Indian public could be deciding India's new telecom policy

In a one of its kind move, the Indian government will ask general public’s inputs and opinions while framing the country’s new telecom policy.

The public opinion will be sought through an open consultation process that will be soon initiated. The idea behind asking for public opinion is to make the policy consumer centric; however, opinions of industry, academia and experts from India and overseas would also be considered.

"We will be doing public consultation for the first time on the new telecom policy, getting the views of the people since they are also stakeholders," Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha told ET.

"We have created a team of 50 people within India and overseas who are all working on the policy," he added.

The Indian telecom industry is facing intense competition ever since between Reliance Jio’s commercial launch on the back of free voice and data services in September last year, post which incumbent telcos have been forced to slash prices to stay afloat.