The regulator or a doormat?

 

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has a former telecom hand, having been the Telecom Commission chairman earlier, He would soon realise the telecom world has undergone a change since his DoT days. More importantly, he followsl, who came minus any telecom experience, but with the blessings of the then communications minister, and left behind a considerable legacy. Of course, whether that legacy is good or bad is debatable, depending on which side of the fence you are on. And this (which side of the fence) issue is what has turned the regulator into a controversial body and controlling that would undoubtedly be the challenging part of new assignment. Speculation that his the chosen one to succeed  he had been doing the rounds for months. So much so that his appointment as the head of C-DoT-Alcatel venture, several months ago, was made precisely with this in mind. Apparently, for a person to be appointed Trai chairman, he must be holding some sort of a government position. But that is the government’s side. It was the division among the industry which was even more interesting. It depended on whether the corporate lobbied for him or not. Those who supported his candidature would not tire of narrating an incident when he apparently threw out of his room a top corporate executive, whose powers in the corridors of power are legendary.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How about inter-connect exchanges?

 In the late ’80s, when Sam Pitroda controlled the reins of Indian telecom, there was constant talk of a new telecom policy. But once V P Singh came to power in early ’90s, Sam fell out of favour and the nation blundered along without a cogent policy. A few years down the line, the irrepressible N Vittal assumed charge of the Telecom Commission, becoming the first IAS officer to assume that role, and kept assuring all that the policy’d be out any day now, till one day, out of sheer exasperation, he told me, “I think I will just say that the new policy is coming on this day, this month, and not add the year to it”. We have come a long way since then. From a tele-density of under 1, it is now nudging 10, and mobiles have outstripped landlines in number. And sure enough, since the exciting Vittal quote, we are now readying the third policy document, whose draft has been around for a while. Like all documents, this one too is being analysed threadbare by intere...
Read more

War over spectrum allocation

 upset with the way the department of telecommunications has allocated spectrum for mobile operators. In a missive to the Telecom Commission chairman, and then to the prime minister, he has ripped through the department’s move to link spectrum allocation with technology and subscriber base. Gauging the seriousness of Tata’s allegations, and the fact that it has the potential to derail their ambitions, the GSM operators too have gone into an overdrive, with their association and the individual operators all sending rejoinders to whoever cares to listen. A spectrum war has begun. As the subscriber base has grown, the operators have been unable to meet the service quality, so they claim, due to the inadequate spectrum. However, since most of the spectrum in this country is held by defence forces, it is impossible for the government to make it available to operators at one go, as is done internationally. So the government allots additional spectrum “based on a...
Read more

The illusion of spectrum scarcity

 Come what come may, penned the Bard, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day. Actually, time brings all things to pass! Everything is a matter of chronology, really. Consider, for instance, the radio frequency spectrum for mobile telephony. In particular, the issue of extra bandwidth for the next — the third—generation (3G) mobile services. With the passage of time and technological change, the notion of routinely licensing chunks of spectrum for service providers is now being vigorously questioned, the world over. Very unlike in the analogue era, today’s digital technologies do allow for new approaches to freeing up and managing spectrum. As much as 99% of even highly saturated bands may be vacant in any specific moment in time and space, innovative software can dynamically shift signals to make full use of the fleeting openings in the wireless “ether”(“white spaces”). The point is, new technologies do allow for much flexibility in spectrum usage. The ...
Read more