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Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the government unveiled new policy reforms for satellite communications services to ease procedures and streamline clearance processes and nudged the telecom industry to substantially speed up the deployment of 5G towers. Vaishnaw stated that the current pace of tower deployment at only 2,500 per week for 5G is 'very less' and needs to be increased to at least 10,000 per week. 

He pulled up the telecom industry for the slow deployment of 5G towers, saying the government has done its bit in ushering in sectoral reforms, and it is now up to the industry to step up and do its bit in enabling faster 5G roll out. However, he stopped short of spelling out what the repercussions will be for those companies not heeding the government's call to speed up 5G tower deployment.

Besides, on reforms, he said that for 5G antenna to be deployed on street furniture, SACFA (Standing Advisory Committee on Frequency Allocation) clearance will not be required now, and the process has been made online. Some of the Satcom-related procedural reforms include permissions to mount VSAT terminals on any mobile vehicle thus doing away with current 'cumbersome processes', self-certification of antennas, and streamlining the NOCC process with a simplified procedure that would reduce the timelines from 8 months at present to 6 weeks.