TRAI issues consultation paper on local production of telecom equipment

New Delhi, Sep 18 : In order to give the necessary boost to local production of telecom equipment, the Indian telecom regulator on Monday issued a consultation paper.

The main objective of the paper is to identify the policy measures required to boost innovation and productivity of local telecom manufacturing in India and examine the existing patent laws in the context of promoting local Indian manufacturers.

The paper floated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India also aims at examining the issues of standardization, certification and testing of telecom equipment and suggest a framework for improvement to support local telecom equipment manufacturing.

It will also examine issues related to IPR affecting the local telecom equipment manufacturing industry, besides looking at the current fiscal incentives to promote the local telecom manufacturing and recommend measures for implementation in the future.

The paper also aims to identify measures to be taken to attract foreign investment for setting up establishments in India.

Written comments on the consultation paper are invited by the TRAI from the stakeholders by October 16, 2017 and counter comments by October 30, 2017.

The telecom industry ecosystem comprises of telecom service providers (TSPs), telecom infrastructure providers, handset manufacturers and telecom equipment manufacturers.

"While the Mobile handset manufacturing industry has shown good progress in the past five years, the telecom equipment manufacturing industry has not been able to match the performance of mobile handset manufacturing industry," the paper said.

The paper asked stakeholders: "What policy measures are required to be instituted to boost innovation and productivity of local telecom manufacturing in our country?"