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Enhancing Vision for Growth Across the Telecom Panorama

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VoicenData Bureau
New Update

SITM National Telecom Seminar:

Communiqué-06







Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management (SITM), recently

organized the 10th National Telecom Seminar 'Communique-06' at Symbiosis

Vishwa Bhavan, Pune where eminent luminaries of the communication industry

discussed various issues and growth prospects in the telecom sector.

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Inaugurating the seminar, Nripendra Misra, chairman, TRAI said,

"Earlier telecom was a regulated monopoly, now it is moving towards

unregulated competition and the challenge is to bring competition in this

situation".

In a thematic address on "Enhancing Vision for Growth

Across the Telecom Panorama", through a recorded video message, Sam Pitroda,

chairman, WorldTel said, "The vision for growth includes improving on

education, health services, rural connectivity and e-governance. The key

challenges in urban areas are to improve broadband connectivity and to provide

sufficient connectivity to SMEs. In rural areas, penetration is the

concern."

Speaking on the occasion, Shantanu Consul, administrator, USO

Fund, DoT said, "USO fund India is considering a proposal for providing

support for shared infrastructure in rural areas for the cellular services.

Indigenous manufacturers should venture into the field of R&D and

manufacturing for rural sector". Highlighting issues related to the

industry, Dr Mukund Govind Rajan, president, AUSPI said, "The time has now

come for Indian telecom to address various challenges such as availability of

spectrum, management of policy and regulation, Government led public private

partnership". SITM also unveiled its "Annual telecom forecast 07"

which foresees the growth in Indian telecom sector.

On the second day of the event, the panel discussed spectrum

related issues. Ibrahim Ahmad, group editor, VOICE&DATA moderated the

session. Talking about spectrum bottlenecks, SC Khanna, secretary general, AUSPI,

said, "I forecast 270 to 275 mn subscriber bases by the end of 2007; given

the fact that only 37% of the Indian market has been covered. Spectrum should be

released from defense. To achieve this all the four concerned ministries ie

Telecom, Finance, Defense and Law ministries should come together and take

necessary steps." The other points that the panel zeroed in were, whether

the recommendations given by TRAI match with the objectives of Spectrum

Allocation.

Gyana Ranjan Swain



gyanas@cybermedia.co.in

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