TELECOM Minister Kapil Sibal has sallied forth where angels fear to tread. At a time when scandals in the telecom sector have become a headline staple, he has dared to air the proposals of the Draft New Telecom Policy (NTP) 2011. While not path-breaking, these proposals have spelled the direction which he wants to take. The grant of infrastructure status to the sector, a certain degree of rationalisation of taxes and levies, and allowing sharing of allocated spectrum will provide relief to the industry; the consumers will be happy that roaming charges are set to be abolished.
Telecom operators are bound to protest as national roaming charges garner as much as $ 600 million for them annually. It is expected that some of them might raise their charges to offset this loss, and it remains to be seen what view TRAI will take of that move. There is some truth in the criticism that the minister has not been specific on spectrum sharing and renewal charges, etc, but there is no doubt that the Telecom Minister has taken a step in the right direction with this new policy. As in any course correction, there are bound to be challenges that such a course will entail, and the key would be in negotiating a compromise that would enable Indian telecom users to benefit even as it allows telecom operators to run their business profitably.Indian telecom industry has changed the way in which millions of Indians communicate with each other, it has opened new vistas for people and empowered its users. As the world moves to adopting smart-phones, data forms a significant part of the telecommunicating experience, and thus greater bandwidth will have to be allocated to providing better services. The minister has clarified the direction for telecom, now it is for the industry to respond.
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