The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has extended the last date for public comments on draft National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2018 by a week to June 1, 2018. With this extension, the public and stakeholders will be allowed to submit their comments until June 1 on the MyGov Portal. The draft NTP 2018 - National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) 2018 - has been hosted at MyGov portal for public comments. Earlier, the deadline was set as May 25, 2018, and was extended on request of stakeholders who in their request asked DoT to provide more time to give their inputs on the drafted policy. 

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The draft of the NDCP 2018 was made public by the department of telecom on May 1, 2018. The draft was released for public comments. 

The National Digital Communications Policy, 2018

The National Digital Communications Policy, 2018 seeks to unlock the transformative power of digital communications networks - to achieve the goal of digital empowerment and well being of the people of India; and towards this end, attempts to outline a set of goals, initiatives, strategies and intended policy outcomes. 

The National Communications Policy aims to accomplish the following Strategic Objectives by 2022:

The key objectives of the Policy includes broadband for all, creating 4 million additional jobs in the Digital Communications sector, enhancing the contribution of the Digital Communications sector to 8% of India's GDP from around 6% in 2017, propelling India to the Top 50 Nations in the ICT Development Index of ITU from 134 in 2017, enhancing India's contribution to Global Value Chains, and ensuring Digital Sovereignty of the country.

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Besides, the draft, which was made public for comments, also seeks to lay out a policy and principles framework that will enable the creation of a vibrant competitive telecom market to strengthen India’s long-term competitiveness and serve the needs of our aspiring nation. It has been broadly estimated that a 10% increase in broadband penetration in a country could potentially lead to an over 1% increase in GDP. However, studies in India estimate that the impact could be significantly higher for the country, given the increased productivity and efficiency gains that are likely to accrue to the economy.