The government is mulling to impose import curb on fibre-based broadband technologies to boost local manufacturing and reduce import dependencies, reported Economic Times. This move mirrors the recent decisions on import of IT hardwares.
Meanwhile, Senior Telecom Executives have warned that the move would home broadband services costlier, degrade their overall quality, and throw up supply chain challenges. This could also cause a snag for the expansion and roll-out plans of fibre-based home broadband networks by the likes of Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.
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As per Economic Times, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is examining a proposal to usher in a licensing regime for import of key telecom finished products such as gigabit passive optical network (GPON) OLT/ONT systems, Wi-Fi access points, ethernet switches and wireless radio links. These devices are used for carrying voice, data and video signals over wired broadband networks at high speeds.
If the proposal is accepted, the Telecom companies would require to take relevant permits and seek prior approval from the government for importing such network gear.