BW Communities

Failed Communications

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[The telecom Industry is a worried lot. Monday was the last day for submission of inputs and suggestion for the National Telecom Policy 2011 to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). But the DoT website remained out of bounds for the whole day. The industry was very keen to send its inputs on Monday, especially after the Communication Minister Kapil Sibal announced on Sunday in a public forum that NTP 2011 will be introduced in the Cabinet for approval before placing it in the parliament.  The industry had been keeping the cards close to its chest and had waited till the last day as each waited for the other to make a comment. So the failure of the DoT website to open had taken the industry by surprise as they had been hoping to discuss it further before any legislative measure is taken. Secretary DoT, R Chandrasekhar, said recently that an extension would be allowed so that the operators could have their say. Senior communications ministry officials were hounded by the industry representatives on Monday to get the DoT website fixed, but till the time this report was filed, the DoT website failed to open. Industry representatives told the Communications Ministry officials, that they should be allowed to make a comment or observation, even if the last day happened to be a holiday. Officials in the Communications Ministry ended up not receiving any hard copy since the comments were to be received online till November 7, 2011. The Draft NTP 2011 released by Sibal received flak from the stakeholders, as it failed to give a clear road map. It also did not spell out the programme and policies to resolve vexed issued in the sector, like mergers and acquisitions (M&A). It was left to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to come out with a recommendation paper on the subject. The Communications Ministry will have a deliberation on this paper, said a senior official, but refused to comment if it will go as part of NTP or as a separate administrative decision. But Sibal speaking at the Economic Editors Conference held recently in Delhi said: "We work in parallel, NTP 2011 and others issues that need urgent attention."  The issue is likely to become a hot issue for the government that is already under attack for lack of transparency in telecom deals.