• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Thomas K. Thomas

Sub-group report likely by May 30

New Delhi , May 26

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) on Friday raised concerns with unbundling its last copper for providing broadband access to private operators.

In a meeting of the sub-group formed by the Prime Minister's Office to find ways to unbundle BSNL's last mile, the state-owned company said that there were huge financial implications, if it threw open its network for private operators.

BSNL's views were, however, countered by the private operators represented by the Cellular Operator's Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Services Providers of India (AUSPI).

Private operators said that unbundling of the incumbent's network was being done in other parts of the world.

While Nasscom said that the network should be thrown open to all, AUSPI said that only licensed operators should be allowed to access BSNL's network.

The Communication Ministry is not in favour of unbundling the last mile at the moment.

The meeting which lasted for an hour was chaired by Mr J.S. Sarma, Secretary, Department of Telecom, who has asked all the stakeholders to give their views in writing by next week.

The sub-group is expected to submit its report by May 30, but is likely to ask for more time. PMO had set up the sub-group to identify the problems in unbundling BSNL's network and to suggest ways to overcome it.

It has also asked the sub-group to fix the quantum of the compensation to be given to BSNL in case its copper network is thrown open to private players.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Broadband

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Southwest monsoon sets in ahead of schedule

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line