Communications and information technology minister Kapil Sibal today said the government would ensure more telecom spectrum was available to meet the industry’s demands.
“The real problem is the scarcity of spectrum..it is a vehicle through which people of India will be empowered and, therefore, we need a very broad area within the spectrum available that can be put to civilian use,” he said, a day after meeting top industry leaders from the sector.
Yesterday, Sibal had a meeting with Bharti Group’s Sunil Mittal, Reliance Communications’ Anil Ambani and Tata Group’s Ratan Tata.
“The road ahead will be a level playing field road, a non-discriminatory road, the road that will help the economy move forward… I was very happy that the three captains of the telecom sector whom I met were extremely constructive about their approach and they have been assured of a level playing field,” the minister added.
The meeting with the industry leaders came amidst a series of issues in the sector — corporate rivalry, words between Tata and Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, to banning of 3G video calls and demand for more spectrum, plus a probe into decisions taken by the telecom ministry between 2001 and 2008.
‘Rule changes sought’
In another development, Chandrasekhar wrote to Sibal today that the the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) needed more power.
“There is a serious shortcoming in the scheme of the Trai Act. Under the Act, the government is mandated to seek recommendations in the areas of introduction of new service providers or while setting terms and conditions of license, but it often circumvents Trai. When it does so, Trai has no powers to stop the government, even when it knows its recommendations are being manipulated or provisions of the Trai Act being vitiated. This needs to be corrected through appropriate amendments,” he said.
He also suggested companies and lobbyists not get free access to the ministry, saying it was unhealthy for the sector.
While welcoming the minister’s decision to send showcause notices to recent licencees over eligibility conditions and non-fulfillment of rollout obligations, Chandrasekhar said the department should also take feedback from the people outside the sector, such as analysts, media and MPs, among others.
“There is a need to adapt transparent, pro-competitive and level playing field policy decisions that keep the government equidistant from all corporate interests and closer to the consumers/users of telecom services,” he added.
‘BJP should remember it too has skeletons in its closet’
Meanwhile, PTI adds that the telecom minister Kapil Sibal today said the opposition party should not forget that they have skeletons in their cupboard.
Referring to his charge that the country had lost Rs 1.43 lakh crore during the NDA rule due to the changes it made in the telecom policy, Sibal said, “This is not to take revenge but to tell them that please look inwards before you start attacking institutions and destroying that very substratum of Parliamentary democracy”.
Sibal had yesterday claimed that the government “actually” lost Rs 1.43 lakh crore in revenue in 1999 because of the then BJP-led NDA regime shifting to revenue share system from fixed license fee for telecom operations.
Asked whether his charge would be investigated, he said, “They have a lot of skeletons in their cupboard which is why I mentioned it ”.
He said he was only trying to highlight the issue of corruption which has become a “societal issue”.
“Corruption is an issue in this country and it reflects in every layer of the society. The media is also not far away from it. The political class is not far away from it. The professional class is not far away from it. This is a societal issue which needs to be addressed holistically,” he said.
