The union cabinet has given its approval to the new telecom policy after making minor changes to the policy that will determine the way in which telecom industry is regulated by the government.

Ambika Soni, minister for information and broadcasting announced that the National Telecom Policy has been approved and will now replace rules thaw were formulated a decade ago. She said that the approval was given after making some small changes but she did not announce further details. She was speaking after a meeting of the cabinet ministers.

The government moved to create a new telecom policy after the growing sector was hit by a spectrum auction sandal leading to a loss of multi billion dollars to the government in lost revenues. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has estimated that the scandal cost New Delhi as much as $34 billion in lost revenue.

Eh new policy will separate licenses and airwaves and will also sharing of airwaves among carriers. The prices of airwaves are not a part of the telecoms policy and will be set through an open auction process. The telecoms department (DoT) had to send clarifications to various ministries in order to get the cabinet approval for the new telecom policy.