Telecom needs a magic bullet solution

But a unified licence is bitterly opposed by GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) cellular mobile operators. They believe a unified licence would provide a backdoor entry for basic operators to provide nationwide roaming services and infringe on several key provisions of the judgment delivered by the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal on August 8, 2003.

TDSAT, in a controversial 2-1 verdict, had upheld the legality of WLL services already being provided by basic operators like the Tatas, Reliance, BSNL and MTNL.

However, TDSAT had imposed several stringent restrictions, specifying WLL calls should not be handed over from one ‘‘short distance charging area’’ to another and that basic operators would be prohibited from installing mobile switching centres in their networks.

While cellular operators deserve sympathy since the government changed the rules of the game to their detriment well after they had paid Rs 8,000 crores in licence fees and invested Rs 20,000 crores in infrastructure, a unified licence would benefit consumers as well as large sections of the industry.

OVER a month after TDSAT’s verdict, basic operators have still not begun to comply with restrictions imposed on call handovers. TDSAT had also directed the Department of Telecom to amend the licences of basic service operators to cover these restrictions. But Shourie opposed the move, saying this would only lead to fresh litigation.

COAI retorted that it reserved its right to approach the Supreme Court for implementation of TDSAT’s order on call handovers as well as appeal against that portion of TDSAT’s order that stated WLL services were legal.

Foreign collaborators of cellular operators, such as Hutchison, SingTel, AT&T and First Asia Pacific, wrote to the prime minister: ‘‘TDSAT’s judgment endorsing WLL services has gravely shaken the confidence of investors … and serves as another example of India’s changeable, inconsistent and uncertain regulatory environment.’’

After meetings with Ratan Tata, Sunil Bharti Mittal and the Ambanis, the prime minister on September 10 formed a Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh to resolve the disputes.

According to Shourie, a member of the GoM, the Group will ‘‘review adequacy of steps for enforcing limited mobility within an SDCA for WLL, chart a course to a universal license, and resolve issues relating to enactment of the Convergence Bill … spectrum management, achievement of rural telephony targets as prescribed by National Telecom Policy 1999, foreign direct investment, and mergers and acquisitions’’.

India will now be in the situation where highly complex technological and regulatory issues will be decided by technology-illiterate politicians and the judiciary, instead of by market forces and statutory bodies such as TRAI and TDSAT.

Simultaneous efforts by statutory regulators, arbitrators and courts, and politicians will lead to crossed connections.

For instance, what if GoM reaches a decision contrary to that of TDSAT-Supreme Court? GoM should stick to framing policies — such as hiking FDI limits, ensuring quick passage of the Convergence Bill, pending since 2000 and so on — rather than get involved in the nitty-gritty of allocating spectrum or monitoring implementation of court orders.

The author is a telecom consultant