The draft National Telecom Policy described
the role of the PSUs in the telecom sector saying, “The PSUs have played a
pre-eminent role in provision of telecom services in the country, particularly
in rural, remote, backward and hilly areas. Contribution of BSNL and MTNL to
broadband penetration in the country is significant. The importance of PSUs in
meeting the strategic and security needs of the country can also not be understated.
This policy recognizes that these PSUs will continue to play such important
role.”
But how to strengthen these telecom
PSUs which are contributing significantly in the expansion of telecom services
and in meeting the security and strategic needs of the country? The draft
policy did not mention any policy support from the Government for making them
the dominant players in the R&D, manufacture and services sectors of the
telecommunications. Instead, it recognizes the pre-dominant role of the private
sector telecom companies and ensures their continued viability. No such
assurance was given in the draft policy for the continued viability of the
PSUs.
The draft Policy only talked about the
objective to “encourage recognition and creation of synergistic alliance of
public sector and other organizations of Department of Telecommunications (DoT)
through appropriate policy interventions and support for optimum utilization of
their resources and strengths in building a robust and secure telecom and
information infrastructure of the country” and further mentioned that the
strategy is “to encourage Public Sector Units under the DoT to identify and
exploit strategic and operational synergies so that they play a significant
role in service provision, infrastructure creation, and manufacturing” and “to
exploit individual strengths of organizations under DoT/DIT to their mutual
benefit for ensuring these organizations to effectively flourish in the
competitive telecom market while adequately supporting the security needs of
the country.Efforts will be made for according preferential treatment for
procurement of products and services rendered by individual organizations”.
As per the reports that appeared in
the news papers, a panel will be formed under the Chairmanship of the Secretary
DoT for preparing a plan for establishing a grand alliance between the
Goverrnment’s Research&Development institute C-DoT, the manufacturing PSU company
ITI, the service providing PSU companies BSNL , MTNL and TCIL. The panel will
define the role of each of these PSUs in this alliance. It will resolve the
likely conflicts between them in the alliance. It will make a formula for
sharing of assets and for procurement of products for optimizing the capacities
of these PSUs. C-DoT will do the R&D (Research and Development), ITI will
manufacture the products based on the R&D of C-DoT and the products
manufactured by the ITI will be bought by BSNL and MTNL.
The senior officers of the PSUs will
be the members in this panel. This panel will also monitor the implementation
of various initiatives required to be undertaken by each of these PSUs in
strengthening the performance of the alliance. The Telecom Commission has
already endorsed the objective and the strategy of the draft National Telecom
Policy 2011 for exploring the synergies between these loss making PSUs in order
to form a strong alliance capable of facing the competition with the private
sector companies and coming out of their losses.
But how can these PSUs come out of
their losses only by the co-ordination among them? Without financial from the
Government for its R&D activities how the C-DoT can develop the
technological know how? Also without transfer of the existing technological
know how from the foreign companies how the R&D can be developed? What are
the conditions to be imposed by the Government on the foreign companies for
transfer of their technological know how? How the ITI can come out of its
losses? BSNL and MTNL are already giving preferential treatment to it by
purchasing 30% of their equipment from it. What about the preferential
treatment to be given to it by the private operators also to ITI? What is the
financial support from the Government for making ITI a top telecom equipment
manufacturing company? Why the Government is not coming forward to fully
subsidize the BSNL for the losses incurred by it on the rural landlines and why
the TRAI is fixing a maximum ceiling of Rs 2000 crore only which can be
recommended by it for this subsidy to BSNL whereas the actual losses incurred
by it on rural landlines is about Rs 10,000 crores? Why the Government has not implemented its
commitment for reimbursing the license fee to BSNL as per the NTP 1999 and
discontinued the reimbursement? Why should the BSNL and MTNL pay the upfront
spectrum license fee to the Government when the telecoms PSUs in China were exempted
from payment of such upfront fee?
Instead of limiting its support only
for the synergistic alliance between the telecom PSUs, the Government should
extend all the necessary policy and finance support to the PSUs as detailed
above.
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కామెంట్ను పోస్ట్ చేయండి