Govt committed to clarity, regulatory stability in Telecom sector: Sibal

NEW DELHI: Union Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal has said the present crisis being faced by India’s telecom sector is also a moment of opportunity as the government stands committed to providing clarity and regulatory stability to the industry. Delivering a keynote address at the ongoing telecom sector GSMA Leadership Summit 2012 in Barcelona, Spain on Monday, Sibal said long-term measures such as National Telecom Policy, National IT Policy and National Electronic and Manufacturing Policy would delineate the telecom sector from uncertainties, paving way for long-term investments. The Minister said India plans to move towards technology neutral unifi ed licence, delinked from spectrum in order to exploit the benefi ts of convergence. Sibal said India is aiming at a one nation -- one licence, mobile number portability, free roaming regime, across services and service areas. Further, an entity can hold maximum 25 per cent of the allotted spectrum. He said the rules have been liberalised allowing M and A between two fi rms together controlling 35 per cent of market share, which can go up to 60 per cent market share, on case-tocase basis. Sibal said all key stake holders -- industry, regulator and political class -- need to work together to benefi t consumers, empower poor and restore viability of industry. Pointing out that no business can afford to ignore India’s 400 million strong up to 14 years youngsters -- more than population of the US or Europe -- who are born and brought up in information communications technology age, the Minister said India is already networking its 800 universities and 24,000 colleges through optical fi bre cable to empower its youth. Sibal pointed out that although rural teledensity has risen from 1.73 per cent to 37.48 per cent over the past fi ve years, a large unsaturated rural market consisting of 2/3rd of the country’s population remains untapped by Telecom operators. While European markets have reached saturation with consumers demanding superior quality of products and service, Indian consumer market is far more diverse and multi-layered, comprising not only the price sensitive, semi-literate poor class but also the rich intellectual class, which demands high quality of products and services.