"There Will No Longer Be Any Arbitrary Decisions"

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Be it any industry there have always been

doubts, queries, and unresolved issues. So is the case with the telecom industry. The

industry in its present state of crisis is desperately looking for a ray of hope. No one

other than the DoT secretary can address the issues better. AV Gokak, chairman,

Telecom Commission, and secretary, DoT, speaks his mind. Excerpts:

Last two years have been

turbulent for the telecom industry in the country. The time span incidentally matches your

tenure as the secretary. How far have these developments been able to keep pace with your

expectation?

Yes, the past two years were full

of controversies to some extent. But that was not the only thing. The period also

witnessed some achievements like signing of six licence agreement for basic services. A

number of stringent provisions with regard to closed user group have also been relaxed.

Resulting in almost 100 percent increase in the turnover of Bombay stock exchange which

earlier was restricted due to lack of all India access.

Steps have also been taken to

introduce the element of rationality. There is a marked difference in the terms and

conditions of paging licences, compared to what they were two years ago. And the industry

will admit these changes are to their advantage. There was an unfair burden of royalty on

the wireless frequency in PMRTS which has been removed.

However, I would also agree that

things have not moved exactly as per our schedule. The reason for that is the gap between

the projections originally made by the bidder and the reality they are seeing today. The

cellular projections went wrong. Naturally, the progress will be slow. And when their

progress is slow, they come to us for relief and here lies the crux of the matter.

Till now what ever decisions we

have made, no doubt, has helped the industry, but they were not fundamental in nature. Now

the changes that are being sought are fundamental. They relate to the quantum of the

licence fees, moratorium on payment of licence fees for a limited period, and, most

important, increase in the licence period itself. It will take some time for the

government to resolve them.

But despite your best efforts why

do you think even after four years of telecom liberalization industry is yet to pick the

pace? How far can we blame it on the red tapism?

When you are entering into

uncharted waters some omissions are bound to take place. So it is not red tapism but

inexperience and unfamiliarity in an area which was hitherto unexplored. Second, the

genuine mistake by bidders who quoted excessively high licence fees and later on found

that conditions in India do not merit such high licence fees. And no system in the world

can respond so fast.

I would not deny there was no red

tape at all. SACFA clearance of frequencies is one such case. But supposing all these

clearances were given on the day the industry had asked for, would their projects have

become viable? I am sure the answer is in negative.

I do not say that we should not

mend our ways. DoT or government should improve clearances. And as an initiative in that

direction, we have taken upon ourselves the responsibility of delay beyond four months. So

if a X licensee gets its frequency clearances after six months, we charge him the

liquidity damages only for two months and not six months.

In fact, we are seeking help from

the World Bank to streamline these processes. Also on the agenda is a SACFA secretariat

for which 10 posts have already been sanctioned.

What is this world bank project

you are talking about?

It is more for streamlining

procedures and making structural changes. After restructuring, what will the Department

look like? Or what will be the functions of the regulator? Or what will be the kind of

interface between the two? And modernization of the wireless advisor office, besides

strengthening inter-relationships between TRAI and DoT.

As per the BJP manifesto,

"India Telecom" is top on the agenda. What do you think will be the priorities

before the new government?

DoT corporatization is an issue

of immediate importance. After many rounds of discussion with the finance minister, I am

happy to say that the response is very positive. A separate cell, headed by a joint

secretary, is being created for this purpose. The cell will exclusively look into any

problem that will arise as a consequence to this process of corporatization.

While the industry confidence in

DoT is at an all time low. TRAI has been challenged every time it takes a decision. What

do you think is the way out of these bottlenecks?

I must confess that the wording

of the TRAI Act creates doubts about the respective roles of the government and the

regulatory authority. Question here is whether the present act, as it is now, reflects the

intentions of the government or not? There is no doubt that suggestions from an

independent body like TRAI are most welcome. But should the same be mandatory or not?

Here, I must mention that in a developing country like India, initiatives are required,

especially, in infrastructure like telecom at the political level too. The government has

a more direct role to play. So whether the government necessarily should wait for the

recommendation from TRAI, is the crux of the matter.

If the government cannot make any

move without recommendation by TRAI, then we are delaying our march to the twenty-first

century. However, I must make the role of DoT here clear. You see, the licence fees does

not come to DoT. It is submitted to the finance ministry as part of the budget. So if the

licence fees is treated as budgetary receipt, then DoT has to play its role as its

collector. When we issue show-cause notice for not paying the licence fees, the operators

rush to TRAI and take the stay order. And finance ministry blames us for not paying the

money.

In other countries, however,

licence fees normally go to the regulators. Even otherwise, the quantum of the licence

fees is small and is related to the cost of monitoring the activities of licence fees by

the regulator. On the contrary here, it is the source of revenue for the government and

that creates all the problem.

What is your suggestion to

players to come out of the prevailing chaos where players of virtually every segment are

waiting for more respite?

I can assure the industry to

expect things to move rationally. There no longer will be any arbitrary decisions. I will

also say as these problems have surfaced recently and are more complicated, government has

not been able to take immediate decision so far. However, thinking has already begun and

we should be able to sort out these problems soon.

Though the movement at this stage

is spiral in nature, we seem to be moving backward. But we are, in fact, going to move

forward.