News Delhi: India’s new telecom policy will bring cheer to consumers with the government Monday proposing to remove roaming charges for subscribers within the country, exponentially increasing broadband availability and speed and allowing for mobile numbers to be ported to any part of the country.

According to the draft of the New Telecom Policy unveiled by Communications Minister Kapil Sibal, roaming charges will be done away with and users will be allowed to port their mobile numbers, keeping the same number, even while switching service areas.The draft on new telecom policy is all set to facilitate 100 per cent mobile penetration by 2020 while it projects 60 per cent teledensity by 2017 in rural regions.

Broadband penetration is another key thrust area for the new policy. The minister said the government was targeting 175 million broadband users by 2017, and increasing this to 600 million by 2020.With a focus on remote and rural areas, it aims to increase tele-density that could reach 100 per cent by 2020. The government also advocates content in vernacular languages and regulatory framework for VAS providers. Sibal said that 300 MHz of spectrum will be provided for IMT services by 2017. He also said that the broadband speed will also be revised from 256 kbps to 512 kbps.

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