80 percent telecom equipment to be home-made by 2020: Sibal

80 percent telecom equipment to be home-made by 2020: SibalNew Delhi, Oct 10 - The draft of the National Telecom Policy 2011 Monday unveiled by Communications Minister Kapil Sibal seeks to boost domestic manufacturing of telecom equipment, aiming to meet 80 percent of the sector's demand by 2020.

"The aim is to promote domestic production of telecommunication equipment to meet 80 percent of Indian telecom sector demand through domestic manufacturing with a value addition of 65 percent by the year
2020," said Sibal while releasing the policy's draft here.

"A concerted effort to boost manufacturing activity is now exigent as robust economic growth in the country is leading to an extraordinarily high demand for electronic products in general and telecom products in particular," he added.

The draft also proposes promotion of indigenous research and development, innovation and manufacturing which serves domestic and foreign markets.

It aims to provide preferential market access for domestically manufactured telecommunication products, including mobile devices and SIM cards with enhanced features.

It will lay special emphasis on Indian products for which intellectual property rights reside in India to address strategic and security concerns of the government, consistent with international commitments as well.

Sibal also said in the coming year the telecom sector will require huge amount of manpower and, therefore, the ministry together with the human resource development ministry will upgrade academic telecommunication courses, which are aligned with the technological advancements in the sector for meeting the requirement.(IANS)