Minister spells out 100-day agenda.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has started work on a new telecom policy that would replace the existing one framed in 1999. The proposed National Telecom Policy (NTP), 2011 will consider a new framework for mergers and acquisitions, and allocation of spectrum, among other issues.
The current mergers and acquisitions guidelines stipulate a three-year lock-in for a firm before selling out. These also restrict service providers from having more than 10 per cent stake in another operator in the same circle.
“Eleven years have passed since NTP’99 was formulated and several changes have been made since then. We will initiate action to formulate a comprehensive ‘National Telecom Policy 2011’ that would give infrastructure and essential services recognition to telecom, and encourage green telecom,” Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters here. The process will start in the next 100 days.
Sibal said the framework will aim to balance low tariffs, a robust industry and the government’s share of revenues. “All three must be served. One should not override the other.”
He, however, did not specify if changes would be made to NTP'99 in respect of allocation of spectrum on the first-come first-served basis. Revenue sharing will continue to be the regime for payment of licence fee by operators.
At present, there are 13-15 operators in every circle with a total subscriber base of 700 million. Competition in the telecom sector has intensified in the last 10 years, with tariffs reaching an all-time low. The sector has been mired in controversies in recent times and subsequently Sibal’s predecessor A Raja was forced to resign.
The department will consult key stakeholders to evolve a transparent mechanism on issues like spectrum allocation, trading and sharing of spectrum, tariffs, mergers and acquisitions among others. The consultations will be held after considering the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that had submitted its proposals in May 2009.
DoT has collected Rs 73.73 crore as penalty from new telecom operators for not fulfiling their rollout obligations. “The total penalty was about Rs 219 crore for non-fulfilment of rollout obligations. We had asked for over Rs 78 crore, out of which we received a penalty of Rs 73.73 crore,” said Sibal.
The operators who have paid the penalty include Etisalat DB, Loop Telecom, Uninor, Videocon and Aircel.
DoT will also start a dialogue with the Department of Space, Information & Broadcasting, Defence and Public Sector Units (PSUs) on release of spectrum. Sibal said spectrum availability in India for civil use was the least compared to other countries.
Security issues related to 3G video calls, import of telecom equipment and BlackBerry services, apart from subscriber verification, will also be resolved over the next 100 days, the minister said, adding proper steps would be taken to establish a central monitoring system that would facilitate a facility for lawful interception and prevent its misuse.
