NEW DELHI, 1 November 2003 — The Cabinet yesterday approved a proposal by the Indian telecom regulator for a single license for all telecom-service providers to end bitter feuding between different operators.
Indian IT and Communication Minister Arun Shourie told reporters of the move after the Cabinet had approved a “unified license regime” for all operators.
He, however, said that no decision was taken on enhancing the foreign investment limit in the telecom sector to 74 percent from the present 49 percent.
Fixed-line operators currently pay lower fees than mobile phone operators.
But they have started offering cheap, limited mobile services to customers, cutting into the profits of more established mobile phone firms.
The telecom regulator said a single license and fee would prevent litigation between the fixed-line and mobile operators.
The policy decision is likely to pave the way for further cuts in rentals and tariffs transforming the dyanamics of the sector.
The telecom regulator had also recommended a fine of 4.86 billion rupees ($100 million) for the country’s largest private group, Reliance, for violating the terms of its fixed-line license by offering mobile services. Shourie said the government would issue a notice to Reliance Infocomm. “The draft of the notice has been approved by the Cabinet,” he said but did not give details.
India’s telephone density is among the lowest in the world with only three fixed-line phones per 100 people, compared with the global average of 14.5.
However, the mobile phone sector in India is one of the fastest growing in the world and various government and private handset manufacturers estimate that India will have 100 million mobile users by 2007.
Backdoor Privatization: Indian Airlines Engineers Plan Agitation
Engineers of the Indian Airlines (IA) are up in arms against the proposed joint venture with Singapore International Airlines (SIA). They may soon resort to a daylong non-cooperation action to voice their protest, a move that could paralyze air travel across the country.
The engineers say the Civil Aviation Ministry is facilitating the backdoor entry of privatization, particularly in the engineering section. They have slammed the ministry for going ahead with a joint venture without discussing the intricacies with them.
The worst fear for the 639 IA engineers is who will be their future employer — Indian Airlines or the new joint venture company.
“We were appointed by the Indian Airlines and are its employees. But we are unclear of our fate after the joint venture. It needs to be known whether we will shift to the new company or stay with IA,” said Chanchal Chattopadhyay, general secretary, All India Aircraft Engineers Association (AIAEA).
“We have signed a resolution and will undertake a one-day non-cooperation throughout India, which will be joined in by all associations and unions,” added Chattopadhyay.
