NATIONAL DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS POLICY-2018

Objectives to be achieved by 2022:

• Universal broadband connectivity at 50 Mbps to every citizen;
  
  
• Provide 1 Gbps connectivity to all Gram Panchayats by 2020 and 10 Gbps by 2022;
  
  
• Creating 4 million additional jobs in the Digital Communications sector;
  
  
• Attract investments of USD 100 billion in the Digital Communications Sector;
  
  
• 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;
  
  
• Enhancing the contribution of the Digital Communications sector to 8% of India's GDP from ~ 6% in 2017; and
  
  
• Propelling India to the Top 50 Nations in the ICT Development Index of ITU from 134 in 2017;
  
  

Strategy: The policy advocates –

• 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; and
  
  
• Facilitating development of Open Access Next Generation Networks.
  
  

Name change of bodies:

• The name of Telecom Commission will be changed to Digital Communications Commission.
  
  
• The name of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will be changed to Digital Communications Regulatory Authority of India.
  
  

Comment:

• The policy has been launched in the background of world witnessing modern technological advancements in the Telecom Sector such as 5G, loT, M2M etc.
  
  
• This policy will form the main pillar of Digital India.