Govt may put Home Broadband Equipment under Import Licence Regime

The import licencing regime may apply to items including gigabit passive optical network (GPON) OLT/ONT systems, Wi-Fi access points, wireless radio links, and ethernet switches.

The Indian government is now debating introducing a new import licencing system for home broadband equipment. This would encourage businesses to produce goods locally rather than importing them from other nations. The goal of the action is to promote local production and independence while creating new jobs for the populace. Even while the action has the correct intentions, it might not be the best for the industry. The government and telcos are working to expand the availability of low-cost home internet services across the nation. The service providers require less expensive equipment in order to make their services accessible to all.

However, costs would undoubtedly increase if the home broadband equipment must be produced in India, a nation that now lacks the necessary manufacturing expertise. Not only the prices could increase, but the products' quality could deteriorate as well. The government's goal of providing every citizen with access to inexpensive broadband would suffer as a result. The government is attempting to bring home broadband equipment under the same import licencing regime that it did for IT hardware, an ET report claims.

The import licencing regime may apply to items including gigabit passive optical network (GPON) OLT/ONT systems, Wi-Fi access points, wireless radio links, and ethernet switches. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is now reviewing the suggestion for this. If authorized, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGGT) will put in place an import licencing system that will make it mandatory for the businesses bringing the aforementioned goods into India to request prior government approval before using them.

Given that India is attempting to become self-sufficient, this will undoubtedly be a wise decision in the long run. However, there will be a lot of supply chain problems in the near future, and the price of the goods will also increase.

However, senior telecom executives cautioned, however, that the change would increase the cost of home broadband services, degrade their general quality, and present supply chain difficulties that might obstruct the rollout or expansion of fiber-based home broadband networks by companies like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel.