HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, May 2: To facilitate research advisory and policy support in the field of “telecom policy, governance, and regulation and to contribute to the achievement of the Digital India mission, Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) has partnered with the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) for a Telecom Centre of Excellence (CoE) and have named the Centre – In ViCT (ICRIER and Vodafone Idea Centre for Telecom).
An MoU to this effect was signed in Delhi recently between Dr. Deepak Mishra, director & CEO, ICRIER, and P Balaji, chief regulatory & Corporate Affairs officer, Vodafone Idea Limited. The CoE will bring together stakeholders from the government, academia, and industry on a common platform to facilitate the development of a coordinated policy response to emerging technology and business trends for India’s telecom sector.
Notably, InViCT envisages bridging this gap by identifying and capturing the best practices, knowledge creation and sharing, and addressing the needs of regulation, policy, and governance impacting the Indian telecom sector.
P Balaji, chief regulatory and corporate affairs officer, Vodafone Idea Limited, said, “The Telecom industry has been at the forefront of driving the digital revolution in India. Even as India’s data-driven society is being built on high-speed networks and ubiquitous connectivity, the advent of 5G will further unlock new opportunities fuelling innovation in the country. Digital connectivity should therefore be placed at the highest order of priority for policy planning. Through the formation of InViCT, in partnership with ICRIER, we will foster research and facilitate dialogue amongst all stakeholders on telecom policy, governance, and regulation, to establish sustainable growth of the sector contributing to the achievement of the government’s Digital India mission.”
Dr. Deepak Mishra, director & CEO – of ICRIER stated, “The ICRIER and Vodafone Idea Centre for Telecom (InViCT) marks ICRIER’s long term commitment to strengthening the analytical underpinnings of telecom policy research in India. The Centre is an infusion of the strong research capacity of ICRIER and the extensive public policy outreach of Vodafone Idea. We, therefore, expect the Centre to emerge as a credible source of knowledge, policy ideas, and technical support in the telecom space.”
