Voice And Data In The Last 50 Months

height="114" alt="https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/vnd/media/post_attachments/e82c58a519d0083ddcb49a36d37ec153abd33f997757ec4bffcc6a3e9c3b4325.gif (8056 bytes)"> N Vittal, chairman, Public Enterprises Selection Board. He was formerly the chairman of Telecom Commission and secretary DoT.

Voice & Data

was launched at a critical time when DoT gave up its century-old monopoly and announced

the National Telecom Policy ’94. Telecommunication, a key infrastructure sector, was

thrown open to the private sector. In the last 50 months, a lot has happened in the area

of voice and data. The path of reform seems to be like the path of true love, not so

smooth.

The National Telecom Policy visualized

telephone for all and telephone within the reach of all. We should have reached

telephone-on-demand by 1997. We are reaching that stage at last in some areas but we have

still miles to go. The mistake made in the entire process of introducing the private

sector in basic voice telephony was that initially it was dominated by the tenders and

when the tenders were opened by the licence fees. As a result, we find the private

companies were tempted to bid unreasonable licence fee which has made their entire

operation unviable.

Like introducing the umpires once the

cricket match has started, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) came into

force only in 1997. TRAI has been not the full loaf, but half a loaf. Its role is under

continuous challenge and the recent decision of the Delhi High Court has squarely pointed

out that policy making is the exclusive privilege of the Government. Having created TRAI,

it is only fair that it is made into a really effective watchdog.

The issues which need urgent attention

today in the telecom scene are the following:

• Making TRAI a really effective
  
  regulatory authority.

• Making investment in the
  
  telecom sector an attractive proposition so that substantial investment can come in this
  
  sector.

• Corporatizing DoT, so that
  
  there will be a level-playing field between the private sector and DoT, and also there
  
  will be clear separation of the three functions of service providing, regulation, and
  
  policy making.

I would suggest that

urgent action need be taken on the following lines:

• TRAI must be really
  
  strengthened by conferring on it the powers for issuing licences and also management of
  
  the spectrum. The Advisor Wireless must be transferred from DoT and placed as a part of
  
  TRAI.

• The present policy of duopoly
  
  in voice telephony must be scrapped. The government can lay down the entry conditions and
  
  allow multiple players to come for voice telephony in every circle. This will basically
  
  involve the government to specify a minimum entry fee which is a licence fee and then a
  
  principle like sharing of a fixed percentage of the revenue. A question may be raised that
  
  if already for six circles there are private operators, will we not be creating confusions
  
  if we bring in the multiple-player concept in the remaining circles or even in all the
  
  circles? There is a simple solution to this fear. The government may announce that
  
  initially the multiple-player concept will be introduced in the circles for which there
  
  are no private players so far and then if the existing private operators in the six
  
  circles agree, they can also be given the option of operating under the new rules.

• The current limitations in the
  
  number of circles in which a party can operate should be removed.

• There is no need also to at
  
  least regulate the tariff at this stage. Market dynamics will automatically ensure that
  
  the customer gets the best deal. This will make the telecom operations more attractive and
  
  we will see the revival of the telecom sector on healthy lines.

• Third requirement is for
  
  bringing in a level-playing field. It is a healthy sign that the government is thinking of
  
  corporatizing DoT from 1 April 1999. I would only suggest that instead of converting the
  
  entire DoT into another monolithic PSE called India Telecom, it will be much better if as
  
  suggested by the Telecom Commission in 1993, DoT is corporatized into four regional
  
  corporations (east, west, north, and south). MTNL can be retained in its present form as
  
  restructuring of it will lead to unnecessary complications especially since MTNL had gone
  
  for GDRs and has been partly disinvested. The advantage of four corporations plus MTNL is
  
  that it will give a boost to the manufacturing of telecom equipment in the country. This
  
  is because there will be a healthy competition among the companies and the equipment
  
  manufacturers can also try their luck with one or the other buyers. If there is a single
  
  corporation, we will again be in the same situation as today. The single corporation will
  
  be doing the rationing of the order among the various manufacturers thereby permanently
  
  crippling their growth and financial well-being of the telecom equipment manufacturers. SIZE="2">

The last 50 months have also seen dramatic

improvements in technology elsewhere. The most dramatic is Internet. Internet is also

dictating a new type of commerce, the E-commerce. It is a very healthy development that IT

has come on the political radar screen. After all, IT is a synthesis of computers and

communications. Unlike normal committees, the National Task Force on IT, set up by the

Prime Minister, has also come up with its recommendations in 40 days. What, even more

pleasantly abnormal, is that the government seems to be also working in a fast forward

mode. The finance minister has already announced concessions based on the Task Force

recommendations. The cabinet has approved all the 108 recommendations in 20 days. These

are very healthy developments. An imaginative application of the recommendations of the

Task Force will go a long way to ensure that India does not miss the Internet bus.

In short, as Voice

& Data celebrates its 50th issue, we can be very optimistic on the telecom side.

Healthy developments are likely to take place on the IT front, we may hopefully witness a

very happy revolution for the better making India one day, an IT superpower. SIZE="1">