Nripendra Misra new Trai chairman

Nripendra Misra, a former secretary in the department of telecom, will succeed Pradip Baijal as the new chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Misra is set to take over the high-profile assignment tomorrow.

Baijal, a former IAS officer like Misra, retired today. His eventful three-year tenure saw the regulator take crucial and often controversial decisions. His stint will be remembered for the sharp fall in mobile tariffs and the manifold increase in the country's telecom density.

It will also be recalled for the manner in which he and Arun Shourie, communications minister in the previous NDA regime, pushed through a unified telecom licence, days before the Supreme Court was scheduled to deliver a judgment on the WLL licence case.

For Misra, the challenges are many. He will also have to regulate the broadcast sector, including the vastly unorganised cable TV sector.

This is an area that he has possibly not dealt with before during his long stay with the government which included tenures with the commerce ministry, looking after WTO matters.

Trai under Misra will have to focus on regulation with regard to emerging technologies, while continuing to frame policies that sustain present growth rates.

A telecom industry expert said Misra's brief would also be to evolve a regulatory framework that did not curtail technological evolution, considering that boundaries between the platforms for telecom, broadcasting and broadband were rapidly blurring.

Misra will also have the tough task of reviewing further reduction in access deficit charge (a levy paid by telecom users to support the unviable operations of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) within two months of taking charge, and also oversee its eventual withdrawal by 2009.