New Delhi: In a relief to debt-ridden telcos, Telecom Commission, the highest decision making body at the telecom department, on Friday approved extension of time period for the payment of spectrum bought in auctions by companies to 16 years from the current 10 years.
The inter-ministerial panel also cleared regulator Trai’s recommendation to mandate that every building plan should have duct for telecom cable and the completion certificate to the building should be given only if it has incorporated duct in the building.
“This move will boost telecom connectivity inside the building. Now, the telecom ministry will write to the Ministry of Urban Development for implementation of this decision. Some part of the recommendations like sharing of the duct in buildings should be mandatory will be sent back to Trai,” said officials after the meeting.
It its meeting, Telecom Commission also approved recommendation of the inter-ministerial group (IMG) to lower interest rate charged over penalties imposed on service providers with slight modification.
IMG was set up to give recommendation to help telecom companies come out of the financial difficulties.
The Telecom Commission also cleared path for formulating a draft of new National Telecom Policy (NTP) by according its approval.
