Operators Submit Village Phone Plans

The private basic telecom service operators submitted individual rollout plans for village public telephones to the government on May 10. The operators have demanded payment for every VPT to be installed out of the Universal Service Obligation fund as mentioned in the New Telecom Policy, 1999.

"We have migrated to NTP-99 which points out that village telephony has to be financed through the USO fund," the operators said.

In a letter addressed to minister of state for communication Tapan Sikdar and department of telecommunications secretary Shyamal Ghosh, the operators said they had no objections to meeting the VPT targets. But they want VPTs to be considered village phones, and not the first phones in the villages.

 

The rollout plan is accompanied by a set of problems being faced by the operators. "The biggest issue is the finalisation of the migration letter by the DoT. Once that is in place, VPT rollout will be much faster," the sources said.

The two operators which have not yet started services, Shyam Telelink and ECL, said the migration letter was essential to achieve financial closure which would pave the way for commencing services.

The operators have also sought permission to use the DoT services network to meet the VPT targets. "We have said that allow us to share your own network. Allow us to activate phones through your network since payment has to be done from the USO fund and maintenance is also to be done through the USO fund," sources said. The operators have also said a reduction in customs duty on imported equipment will aid in faster achievement of targets.