"Eleven years have passed since New Telecom Policy 1999 (NTP'99), and many changes have taken place thereafter. Action will be initiated to formulate a comprehensive NTP 2011," said India's Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal while unveiling the government's 100-day agenda for the sector.
The initiative would include the recognition of telecom as infrastructure and as an essential service, encouraging green telecom, steps to migrate from Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) to IPv6, said Sibal, who took over in November after his predecessor resigned following charges of irregularities.
The Indian ministry, among its 10-point action plan for the telecom sector, has included framing new rules on mergers, publishing spectrum availability and status of pending applications on DoT's website.
"We will hold consultations with key stakeholders to evolve a clear and transparent regime covering licensing, spectrum allocation, tariffs, linkage with roll out performance, spectrum sharing/trading, M&As, etc, in a technology agnostic environment, after due consideration of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) recommendations," he added.
India's most recent telecoms policy was framed in 1999 when the sector was dominated by the state monopoly and when few imagined the country would in rapidly become the world's fastest growing market for mobile phone services.
Currently, there are 15 operators in the country, including units of Vodafone, Telenor and Etisalat, serving more than 700 million users and add 17 million more each month.
After taking office in November, Sibal started a "clean-up act" in the scam-tainted telecom industry by issuing notices to mobile phone companies for charges ranging from use of forged documents and suppression of facts to failure to roll out services in time.
Indian government, according to Sibal, had collected $16.43 million as penalties from mobile phone companies for missing roll-out deadlines. "The department of telecom was considering the possibility of cancelling the licences of these operators," he added.
"Total penalty is about Rs 219 crore ($49 million) for missing roll-out obligations. We had generated demand for over Rs78 crore ($17.38 million) of which the operators have submitted Rs73.73 crore ($16.43 million)," he said.
Etisalat DB Telecom, a joint venture between UAE's Etisalat and Swan, has paid $2.2 million as penalty for missing the rollout deadline in four circles. Uninor, a joint venture between Unitech and Norway's Telenor, has also made the payment. Similarly, CDMA operator Sistema Shyam Telecom has also paid about $2.45 million.
India's Department of Telecommunications has given 15 days time to its notice and is hoping to get more money in the next few days.
As per the terms, the licensees are required to roll out the services in 90 per cent of the service area in metros and 10 per cent in district headquarters within 12 months from the date of award of licences. The total penalty cannot exceed $1.56 million per licensing area and the telecom companies get 52 weeks before their licences are cancelled.India vows to overhaul telecom policy
WALID MAZI
NEW DELHI: India has vowed to overhaul its decade-old telecom policy in a bid to evolve a transparent regime to take the country's scam-hit sector to the next level of growth, a move that will directly impact the major market players, including Etisalat DB.
"Eleven years have passed since New Telecom Policy 1999 (NTP'99), and many changes have taken place thereafter. Action will be initiated to formulate a comprehensive NTP 2011," said India's Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal while unveiling the government's 100-day agenda for the sector.
The initiative would include the recognition of telecom as infrastructure and as an essential service, encouraging green telecom, steps to migrate from Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) to IPv6, said Sibal, who took over in November after his predecessor resigned following charges of irregularities.
The Indian ministry, among its 10-point action plan for the telecom sector, has included framing new rules on mergers, publishing spectrum availability and status of pending applications on DoT's website.
"We will hold consultations with key stakeholders to evolve a clear and transparent regime covering licensing, spectrum allocation, tariffs, linkage with roll out performance, spectrum sharing/trading, M&As, etc, in a technology agnostic environment, after due consideration of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) recommendations," he added.
India's most recent telecoms policy was framed in 1999 when the sector was dominated by the state monopoly and when few imagined the country would in rapidly become the world's fastest growing market for mobile phone services.
Currently, there are 15 operators in the country, including units of Vodafone, Telenor and Etisalat, serving more than 700 million users and add 17 million more each month.
After taking office in November, Sibal started a "clean-up act" in the scam-tainted telecom industry by issuing notices to mobile phone companies for charges ranging from use of forged documents and suppression of facts to failure to roll out services in time.
Indian government, according to Sibal, had collected $16.43 million as penalties from mobile phone companies for missing roll-out deadlines. "The department of telecom was considering the possibility of cancelling the licences of these operators," he added.
"Total penalty is about Rs 219 crore ($49 million) for missing roll-out obligations. We had generated demand for over Rs78 crore ($17.38 million) of which the operators have submitted Rs73.73 crore ($16.43 million)," he said.
Etisalat DB Telecom, a joint venture between UAE's Etisalat and Swan, has paid $2.2 million as penalty for missing the rollout deadline in four circles. Uninor, a joint venture between Unitech and Norway's Telenor, has also made the payment. Similarly, CDMA operator Sistema Shyam Telecom has also paid about $2.45 million.
India's Department of Telecommunications has given 15 days time to its notice and is hoping to get more money in the next few days.
As per the terms, the licensees are required to roll out the services in 90 per cent of the service area in metros and 10 per cent in district headquarters within 12 months from the date of award of licences. The total penalty cannot exceed $1.56 million per licensing area and the telecom companies get 52 weeks before their licences are cancelled.
