The Hindu Business Line : Govt to announce `technology neutral' spectrum policy

THE Minister for Communications and IT, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, has said the Government will soon announce a `technology-neutral' spectrum policy to usher in an automated spectrum management system by December 2004. This would bring in objectivity, transparency, timely allotment and non-discriminatory allocation of the spectrum.

Outlining the UPA Government's policy for the telecom, IT and postal sectors at the Economic Editors' Conference here on Thursday, Mr Maran said, "Spectrum sharing and co-existence are the key themes for the efficient utilisation of radio frequency. Immense challenges are ahead for spectrum managers when technologies are evolving with much faster rate."

Mr Maran's statement assumes significance in the light of the ongoing spectrum row between CDMA-based operators and operators who use the GSM technology for providing mobile services.

Highlighting the need for indigenous manufacturing, Mr Maran said multinational technology providers, including Ericsson, Lucent, Alcatel and LG, have shown interest in setting up manufacturing bases in India. LG has already decided to set up a handset manufacturing plant by January 2005 with a capacity to produce eight million handsets by 2007. "We have identified certain measures for the manufacturing sector to share the explosive growth being enjoyed by the telecom sector in India," Mr Maran said.

With a view to giving a thrust to rural telephony, the Minister disclosed that the Department of Telecom had sought Rs 2,500 crore from the Finance Ministry. As per the plan, the Government is aiming to set up 76,000 Public Tele-Info Centres (PTICs) in the first phase to provide broadband connectivity in the rural areas.

"The tele-density in the rural areas is only about 1.67 per cent as against 24 per cent in urban areas. This gap needs to be minimised and our primary focus has to be on rural areas," Mr Maran said.

National e-Governance policy on the anvil

On the IT sector, Mr Maran said that the Government was working out a National e-Governance Action Plan, which seeks to provide impetus for a far more pervasive spread of e-Governance to reach the common man, particularly in the far-flung areas.

"The Government is keen to develop the hardware sector at par with the software sector. The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is in the process of setting up Bio-IT Parks in several States," Mr Maran said.

Turning to the postal sector, Mr Maran said that his Ministry had approached the Finance Ministry, seeking a full banking status for the postal banks across the country. As of now, postal banks act as the medium between depositors and the Finance Ministry on a commission basis.