Atal Behari Vajpayee

Atal Behari Vajpayee inaugurated the launch of services of

Reliance Infocomm on December 27, 2002 heralding a telecom revolution in the

country. The entry of Reliance Infocomm, though shrouded in some controversy

related to the technology it was using, brought about an explosion on the market

and increased competition resulting in lower tariff and greater reach of

services.

It was during Vajpayee's tenure that guidelines for merger

of licences in a service area and Unified Access Services Licence are issued.

The IT ACT of 2000 followed by the Communication Convergence Bill of 2001 were

brought during his regime.

His term in office started with the finalization of NTP 1999,

against stiff opposition from DoT, was a watershed event in the history of

Indian communications industry. The most remarkable policy initiative of NTP

1999 that the service providers were allowed to shift from a license fee regime

to a revenue sharing one despite opposition from the Congress party.