TRAI moves in to boost equipment production

NEW DELHI - In an effort to promote telecom equipment production in the country, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Tuesday issued a consultation paper seeking comments from the stakeholders and to find out ways to promote research and development in the field.

The consultation paper also addresses issues such as intellectual property rights as well as promoting manufacture of telecom equipment and electronic components in the country, TRAI said in a statement.

Stakeholders have been asked to submit their comments by Jan 14 and counter comments by Jan 21.

The Indian telecom equipment manufacturing segment has not been able to keep pace with subscriber growth, forcing operators to import most of the equipment required for their networks, the statement said.

Growth in the number of subscribers has been considerable and is expected to reach one billion by 2014, it added.

The regulator also issued a pre-consultation paper on the issue in May this year for getting views of the industry.

According to TRAI, in order to meet the country’s demand as well as to be able to export, India has to create a synergetic telecom ecosystem and build globally competitive product companies across the telecom value chain.