Letter to BS: Telecom sector needs sensibility from the regulator

This refers to the editorial “The telecom test” (March 30). Over the past couple of years, the telecom sector has been going through turbulent times. Lower-than-normal tariff because of hyper competition has bled all the telecom companies, putting them in a precarious financial condition. And when the tariff started to go upward recently, the AGR issue attained its finality, putting any hope for a quick recovery to rest. All these developments ensured that the telecommunication service provi­ders (TSPs) remained stressed. Quite a few of them are looking for ways to survive. Because of all this, infrastructure augmentation had to take a back seat.

The editorial rightly emphasises that the weaknesses of the telecom infrastructure stand exposed with the unexpected load because of the Covid-19 lockdown. Some of the ways to support this sector would be to fix reasonable prices for spectrum, offer tax concessions to the TSPs to set up the much-needed infrastructure and sensible regulation without allowing unreasonable competition. It is hoped that the government and the regulator will come together and take the requisite steps to propel the sector on the growth and profitability path. While the TSPs need some hand-holding, given the uncertain times, they also need magnanimity from the government and sensibility from the regulator.

Sanjeev Kumar Singh  Jabalpur

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