The Hindu Business Line : Maran proposes Telecom Centres of Excellence

New Delhi April 11 In a first of its kind public-private partnership in the telecom sector, Communications and IT Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, has proposed to set up seven Telecom Centres of Excellence across the country to work on key issues like technology management, rural application, next-generation network and policy.

Each of these centres will be sponsored by a telecom service provider and will be co-ordinated by a governing cell with representatives from the Government and the industry. The centres will be located in key research institutes in the country, including the IITs.

A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Telecom, the sponsoring company and the institute where it will be located will be signed soon. Companies including Airtel, Reliance, BSNL and Aircel have already agreed to the proposal.

Seed investment

While the details of the proposed centres are still being worked out, the Government and the sponsor company will make an initial seed investment of Rs 10 crore per centre jointly over a 5-year period. The contribution from the sponsoring company will be treated as R&D investment to get tax benefits.

The Centres of Excellence will be registered as independent societies and will be named as per the location. For example, the Telecom Centre of Excellence, Delhi and the Telecom Centre of Excellence, Bangalore. Two-tier management

There will be a two-tier management structure. Each centre will have a seven member governing body headed by a Chairman, nominated by the Government and a Vice Chairman who will be a representative of the sponsor company. Industry associations like the Cellular Operators Association of India and the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India will also be on board.

Nominees from the Telecom Engineering Centre and C-DoT and two academicians will complete the governing body. A central coordinating cell will monitor all the seven centres. The coordinating agency will comprise of one representative of C-DoT, two representatives from Cellular Operator Association of India and one representative from Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India.

In addition to the seven centres, there is a proposal to set up a Telecom Centres of Excellence for spectrum management in Chennai. This centre may not be sponsored by a service provider, but run by the Government with a Managing Committee that includes representatives of all service providers.

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