According to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), for every line of mobile service that telecom service providers add in India, USD 15 is spent for royalty for the equipment purchased. Further, the royalty payments for mobile services providers lead to high expenditure as each operator holds millions of service lines to support voice services.

DoT is of the view that the industry needs to invest in research and development for intellectual property rights (IPR) for developing the lifeline of the Indian electronics industry. Moreover, the focus should be on developing IPR for high end defence electronics, as part of the government’s programme for defence manufacturing.