Trai to seek tax breaks for telecom players

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) will issue a report on the broadband sector in India, aimed at increasing the internet penetration and facilitating last-minute connectivity.

Speaking the South Asia Communication Infrastructure Conference, sponsored by the US Trade Development and Agency (USTDA) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), Trai Chairman Pradip Baijal said operators needed to play an aggressive role so that the bottlenecks could be removed.

He said national roaming should be made mandatory and integrated with the present national structure.

The regulator also favoured the unbundling of the local loop for broadband and said it would recommend to the government tax holidays for players.

"Unless telecom tariffs are rationalised there cannot be any growth in the sector. Even in the case of broadband, we need to lower the entry barriers, both monetary and physical," Baijal said on the sidelines of the meeting. "We are formulating the recommendations, and will seek tax breaks to ensure growth," he added.

Baijal said India currently had a low broadband penetration of two per 10,000 people. Trai considers 256 kbps as the access speed for a true broadband connection.

He said the regulator would also recommend to the government that the constraints hindering the growth of mobile penetration be removed.

Meanwhile, FICCI Secretary General Amit Mitra urged for an increase in the foreign direct investment cap for the telecom sector and also asked for the setting up of a 'Telecom Financing Corporation'.

USTDA Director Leocadia Zak said the agency would fund South Asian telecommunications management training programmes.

Under the plan, USTDA will fund the training of 16 delegates at the US Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI).