Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, May 27, 2004 |
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Info-Tech
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Telecommunications Industry & Economy - Foreign Direct Investment Maran promises relook on FDI in telecom — Rules out privatisation of BSNL, MTNL Our Bureau
The Minister for Communications and IT, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, assuming office in the Capital on Wednesday. - Kamal Narang
New Delhi , May 26 PROMISING a relook on the issue of increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) in telecom, the Minister of Communications and IT, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, on Wednesday ruled out privatisation of public sector telecom units BSNL, MTNL and the loss-making ITI. On raising the telecom FDI to 74 per cent from 49 per cent now, the Minister said: "Reforms should continue and the sector does require investments." On the question of privatisation, he said, "MTNL and BSNL are off the disinvestment list." Regarding the sick unit, ITI, he said that ITI needs to be revamped but ruled out its privatisation. Mr Maran also said that attempts would be made to reintroduce the Convergence Bill that proposes a super-regulator for the broadcasting and telecom sectors that would oversee carriage and content issues. The earlier Government had given additional powers to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to tackle the carriage issues of the broadcasting sector. Mr Maran's views on the Convergence Bill run contrary to that of the I&B Minister, Mr Jaipal Reddy, who had called for a separate broadcast regulator after assuming office. The telecom policy will be revamped in order to ensure that benefits of technology percolate down to the masses, Mr Maran said. He unveiled a 10-point agenda for his Ministry that includes increasing PC penetration, enhancing overall teledensity and rural teledensity in particular, pushing broadband connectivity at reasonable prices, and promoting the use of digital signatures in the financial sector, judiciary and education, among others. Further, Mr Maran said that India should leapfrog into the use of next generation 4G-wireless technology. "3G has been evolved but has not proved cost-effective. I, therefore, plan to leapfrog this generation and develop 4G technology. We are going to set up a National Centre for Excellence in this area." Among other steps that need to be taken, he said that it was necessary to increase research and development in the telecom sector and encourage manufacturing of telecom equipment. He said he would work towards making India "the world's hub for outsourcing skilled manpower". His other priorities include encouraging language computing, connecting all Internet service providers in India to a national Internet exchange, and migrating to a new Internet protocol, Ipv6, by 2006.
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