MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s name has been rechristened. From now, it will be called as the Digital Communications Regulatory Authority of India (DCRAI). The announcement was made at the annual general meeting of the telecom infrastructure body (TAIPA) by the Telecom minister Manoj Sinha.
The post of TRAI chairman has been changed to Digital Communications regulator, said Sinha speaking to RS Sharma. The time frame hasn’t been finalised but he expects it to be formalised soon.
The Telecom Commission has also been renamed to Digital Communications Commission at the Department of Telecom.
Sinha explained how telecom infrastructure has played a crucial and important role in the development of the telecom market in the country these past years by enabling rapid rollout of towers from a mere 1 lakh in 2006 to 4.71 lakh currently.
TRAI chairman RS Sharma said, “NDCP talks about creating tower authority. The policy very clearly lays down to prepare India for digital tomorrow.” The new policy will be transformational as it lays down quantifiable objectives - $100 billion investment, 50 Mbps download speeds.
Since 93 per cent of data transportation is happening on wireless networks, Sharma said telecom infrastructure is crucial. “Therefore it is appropriate that we put together all our efforts, if you want to be ready for 5G, you need to put massive infrastructure,” he said. Sharma also mentioned that TAIPA chairman Akhil Gupta had said that 5G infrastructure will require hundreds and thousands of more towers. Many of them will be small cells. He has requested the minister to summon a high-level conference of ministers and IT secretaries of state.