Telecom spectrum should be made 'affordable': Vaishnaw

Addressing the CII Partnership Summit 2021, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw noted that consultation process on spectrum pricing is currently on, and urged the industry to participate in discussions and offer suggestions to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on the issue.

Vaishnaw said, "They (TRAI) will come up with a final document, based on which the government will take a decision. But the thought process is that we have to make it affordable. That's a very, very significant change in thinking and COVID made us realize the importance of telecom...everything went digital."

He further added that the Internet brought with it opportunities and challenges, and regulations are focusing on ensuring a secure environment for all users.

"... internet brings the good things as well as the bad things. How do we face the challenges in a proper way. Lots of thought processes have gone in on regulation and this is in line with the global thinking that social media, big tech, internet...the way it is today, affecting our society in the positive as well as the negative way, somewhere the balance has to be brought," the minister said.

He also added that about 40 gigawatt of renewable energy tenders will be released which would attract high volumes of investment, including from overseas.

Stressing that India has moved towards an investment-driven recovery, Vaishnaw informed that the Ministry of Railways is undertaking capital investment of USD 15 billion on its own and is on track to achieve this target by middle of March 2022.