Cabinet nod to National Digital Communications Policy-2018

The policy further advocates for establishment of a National Digital Grid by creating a National Fibre Authority.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the National Digital Communications Policy-2018 (NDCP-2018) and re-designation of the Telecom Commission as the "Digital Communications Commission".

The NDCP-2018 envisions supporting India's transition to a digitally empowered economy and society by fulfilling the information and Communications needs of citizens and enterprises by the establishment of a ubiquitous, resilient and affordable Digital Communications Infrastructure and Services.

The key objectives of the policy are provisioning of Broadband for all; creating 4 Million additional jobs in the Digital Communications sector; enhancing the contribution of the Digital Communications sector to 8% of India's GDP from ~ 6% in 2017; propelling India to the Top 50 Nations in the ICT Development Index of ITU from 134 in 2017; enhancing India's contribution to Global Value Chains; and ensuring Digital Sovereignty. These objectives are to be achieved by 2022.

The policy, inter-alia, aims to provide universal broadband connectivity at 50Mbps to every citizen; provide 1 Gbps connectivity to all Gram Panchayats of India by 2020 and 10 Gbps by 2022; ensure connectivity to all uncovered areas; attract investments of USD 100 Billion in the Digital Communications Sector; train1 Million manpower for building New Age Skill; expand IoT ecosystem to 5 Billion connected devices; establish a comprehensive data protection regime for digital communications that safeguards the privacy, autonomy and choice of individuals and facilitates India's effective participation in the global digital economy; and Enforce accountability through appropriate institutional mechanisms to assure citizens of safe and secure digital communications infrastructure and services.

The policy further advocates for establishment of a National Digital Grid by creating a National Fibre Authority; establishing Common Service Ducts and utility corridors in all new city and highway road projects; creating a collaborative institutional mechanism between Centre, States and Local Bodies for Common Rights of Way,standardization of costs and timelines; removal of barriers to approvals; and facilitating development of Open Access Next Generation Networks.

(With inputs from PIB)