The cabinet on Thursday approved a new telecoms policy, Ambika Soni said, which will replace more than a decade-old rules. 

The cabinet approved the new policy with some changes from what was proposed earlier, Soni, the minister for information and broadcasting, told reporters after a meeting of the cabinet, but did not elaborate. 

Telecom users will be able to avail free roaming and keep their phone numbers even if they switch service providers anywhere in the country, as per the new policy. The distinction between local and STD calls would vanish, as the policy aims at a 'one-nation-one-licence' regime. 

Telecom operators would not require separate licences for operations in various parts of the country and a single licence would suffice. 

As the market is crowded with too many players, the government would also bring an exit policy. This move could eventually lead to consolidation in an industry where more than a dozen players compete, keeping tariffs and margins low. 

The new policy aims to provide on demand broadband for all citizens and increase rural teledensity to 100% by 2020. 

The country overhauled its telecoms rules after the once-booming sector was hit by a massive scandal over telecoms licence grants in 2008, which a state auditor estimated to have cost New Delhi as much as $34 billion in lost revenue. 

The new policy, which will separate licences and airwaves and will allow sharing of airwaves among carriers, also seeks to facilitate consolidation in the crowded market. 

Pricing of airwaves is, however, not part of the telecoms policy, and will be set through an open auction process. 

Under NTP 2012, it has been proposed to de-link spectrum from licences, reduce number of different licences, give industry liberal mergers and acquisition norms and remove roaming charges burden from consumers. They will also be allowed to retain same number across country. (Economic Times)