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Summary India has cleared new policy to introduce greater transparency in mobile phone licenses.
The policy will streamline licensing regulations by allowing operators to obtain a single nationwide licence and separate the allocation of licences from the awarding of bandwidth.The policy seeks to provide a predictable and stable policy regime, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters in New Delhi.The new rules come as the Congress-led government seeks to clean up the industry following accusations that the 2008 sale of second-generation licences and bandwidth were rigged, costing the public treasury billions of dollars.The Supreme Court of India has since cancelled all 122 2G licences awarded in the suspect process which led to criminal charges against senior politicians, government officials and company executives.The scandal has created uncertainty about the future of Indias mobile market, which had been seen as one of the nations biggest liberalisation success stories.The National Telecom Policy marks the third time in a decade that India has formulated a new framework for the fast-expanding sector.It also calls for increasing penetration of telecom services in rural areas to 100 percent by 2020 from the current 39 percent.Making available affordable and effective communications for all of Indias 1.2 billion population is the fundamental government ambition, Sibal said.
