With the 21-day public consultation on the draft National Telecom Policy 2025 (NTP-25) drawing to a close, industry body Voice of Indian Communication Technology Enterprises (VoICE) has urged the government to mandate indigenous telecom equipment, including chips, operating system, software across networks, warning that reliance on imports — particularly from “hostile” nations — poses a national security risk.
In its submission to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), VoICE, called for a time-bound “Rip & Replace” programme to remove Chinese-origin network gear and SIMs with compensation to the licensed providers via the universal service obligation fund. It also sought direct spectrum allocation for private 4G/5G enterprise networks, ₹20,000 crore in R&D funding from the Anusandhan Fund, tighter origin audits, access to source code for all programmable equipment, and a sovereign patent fund for standard essential patents.
Currently, the draft policy proposes increasing domestic telecom manufacturing output by 150% and achieving 50% import substitution through products designed, developed, and manufactured in India by 2030. On this, VoICE said, “In the short-term, maybe 90 to 95 % requirements can be met from domestic sourcing except ICs but the target over the medium term should be complete software, programmable parts including ICs, defence, nuclear energy, power and telecom sectors should be under full control without any influence of remote operations from outside the country.”
However, on the matter of direct allocation for private 5G network, industry bodies differ from VoICE’s viewpoint. As reported earlier by FE, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had urged the government to avoid direct allocation of spectrum to enterprises for captive non-public networks (CNPN) suggesting spectrum leasing or network slicing. COAI said direct spectrum allocation to enterprises could pose security risks, reduce government revenues, and create an uneven competitive environment.
Citing the success of Operation Sindoor, which the Prime Minister attributed to indigenous defence capabilities, VoICE argued that telecom must replicate the defence sector’s Atmanirbhar push. “The time to build Bharat as a product nation is now,” the submission stated, envisioning India contributing 30–40% of global 6G exports in the coming years.
Telcos concerned over skipping AGR reforms in policy
The draft National Telecom Policy 2025 includes regulatory framework for non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) and satellite broadband aiming to support new entrants like Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper but telecom operators have expressed concern over the lack of clarity around key financial issues such as spectrum usage charges (SUC), adjusted gross revenue (AGR), and overall levies—areas they say need urgent review to ease the cost of doing business.
“Telecom operators in India are under immense financial pressure. AGR reforms are missing in this draft policy. Exorbitant spectrum auction costs and high hardware expenses make profit generation extremely difficult. The policy must do more to ease this burden if it truly wants to catalyze investment,” told a senior official of a leading telecom firm who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“Laying fiber is a logistical challenge. Permissions are hard to get, the process is labor- intensive, and costs are steep — especially in dense urban zones. Without easing these bottlenecks, implementation could remain difficult,” he added.
Connectivity goals might face wireline broadband bottleneck
With targets such as 100% 4G population coverage, 90% 5G access, and 80% fiberization of telecom towers by 2030, NTP‑25 presents a bold roadmap for enhancing connectivity. Additional goals include bringing broadband to 100 million households and deploying one million public Wi‑Fi hotspots. Significant challenges still remain especially in expanding and deepening wireline broadband infrastructure.
“One of the key challenges is that 70 to 80% of urban Indians live in unstructured settlements — informal housing and non-gated colonies — where deploying fiber‑to‑home infrastructure is extremely difficult while mobile broadband has improved significantly, wireline remains a critical bottleneck for India’s real growth,” said Vivek Raina, CEO and Co-founder of Excitel Broadband.