TEMA Compliments TRAI for Their Recommendations on Local Manufacturing

TEMA thanks Shri RS Sharma, Chairman TRAI and his team and compliments TRAI on wonderful recommendations made on 3rd August 2018 to promote the development of local manufacturing telecom equipments.

The same is expected to give a boost to local manufacturing. TRAI has considered and met almost all the suggestions made by TEMA during consultation paper.

1. Of prime value is TRAI’s suggestion that the local manufacturing is looked after at the level of Member in Telecom Commission. In fact, earlier Member Production was solely responsible for the promotion of local manufacturing. TEMA requests that this post is filled up immediately.

2. There was always confusion and non-clarity in locally manufactured, assembled, produced products. TEMA thanks TRAI that in this behalf they have recommended that telecom products be classified as either fully finished imported products or Indigenous products and Indigenous products to be further classified into Made in India Products, Designed in India Products or Designed and Made in India Products.

3. TEMA also thanks TRAI for the vision of net-zero import of telecom equipments by 2022 and suggested role of Telecom Equipment Manufacturing Council (TEMC). In fact, TEMC has made several recommendations in the past and TEMA request that their recommendations be accepted immediately.

4. TEMA also compliments TRAI for Telecom Research and Development Fund (TRDF), with an initial corpus of Rs. 1000 Crore, and also setting up of Telecom Entrepreneurship Promotion Fund (TEPF) and Telecom Manufacturing Promotion Fund (TMPF).

5. TEMA also thanks TRAI for increasing role of TEC by the establishment of Telecommunication Equipment Development Board (TEDB) and its role for innovations, R&D, testing certification and manufacturing as also faster and coordinated decisions relating to funding of and incentives for design, development, and manufacturing of telecommunication equipment in the country.

6. Another one of wonderful recommendations long awaited is Telecommunication Technology and Systems Design Labs to be set up in the Universities/ technical institutes for the development of telecom equipments and manufacturing.

7. Another major hindrance faced in the past was the trials for new technologies and new idea. In this behalf, TRAI has recommended that permissions for trials of new technologies ' products and running pilot projects should be simplified. We compliment TRAI for this suggestion.

8. However, on point, we would like to request Government specifically. On IPRs, the TRAI has recommended that a portal is developed for self-loading and declaration of SEPS. In this behalf, TEMA would like to request that there must be some Government authority, who should certify that so and so the patent is SEP. This is because self-declaration is not enough and in several legal cases, the ratio of SEPs accepted are far less. And the royalty should also be consented by the Government and not left to market situations. There are several issues and non-transparency in this.