Welcome, Mr Dayanidhi

Dear Mr Dayanidhi,

Almost 15 months back I had written a short letter to your predecessor,
giving him a list of expectations that this telecom industry and telecom users
had from him. Arun Shourie never replied to that letter, which was not expected
from a communications minister, but I will admit, that he put in his best
efforts in taking the industry ahead. Though, there were plenty of issues with
regards to his accessibility to end users, he definitely brought in a lot of
reforms.

The good thing is that you have come in at the time when not only the
financial year 2004—05 is beginning, but also the last fiscal closed on a very
positive note. The entire industry is in the process of making and rolling out
new plans for the new fiscal, which looks even more promising. Everybody is
looking up to you.

You will get a team of very good advisors, I am sure, but let me take the
liberty of sharing some of the thoughts that I have been able to put together
from my interaction with our readers, who are primarily service providers, and
enterprise users. We feel, these ideas are important, especially, if you want to
get into the game with long term plans.

n Take telecom users into
confidence. Find out what enterprise users want. They are the biggest users of
telecom services, and clearly know what their requirements are. They are very
smart and know what is happening on the communications technology front, and
what are the international trends.

n Coming from a TV broadcasting
background, you would know that convergence of technologies, products, and
services is happening. It is a reality, and will be the driver. Keep that in
mind for all your future policy planning.

n To achieve the telecom plans
and targets set, a lot of investment will be needed. Foreign and private
investment will be the key. Win their confidence, and take them along.
Otherwise, the road will be too long. Have a roadmap, get a policy to suite
that, and stick to what you state.

n Telecom is not only about large
business users. It's also about villages and the common man on the streets.
Finally, he will need to be equipped for this revolution to succeed. The
government as well as private operators have a role to play here, and
commitments to keep. We all want communications to be the enabler for everybody,
and not to help in creating a digital divide.

n You are going to be the
government's face for telecom in India, but do not forget the case of Indian
software success, which happened more because the government did not get
involved in it. It might be a good idea to try out minimum state interference in
telecom too.

I am sure you will have a telecom vision for India. Mr Shourie did not seem
to even like the word vision, but it helps in many ways. Operationally, all your
targets and objectives would revolve around that. And industry players and users
will know that you really care about telecom. A vision statement for Indian
telecom will help in creating excitement, and taking more people along.

Ibrahim Ahmad