By Telecom Lead Team: Indian government is committed to
ensure clarity and stability in the telecom market, according to Kapil Sibal,
telecommunications minister.
Kapil Sibal says the present crisis being faced by
India’s telecom sector is also a moment of opportunity as Government stands
committed to providing clarity and regulatory stability to the industry.
Long-term measures such as national telecom policy, national IT policy and
national electronic & manufacturing policy will delineate the telecom
sector from uncertainties, paving way for long term investments.
India plans to move towards technology neutral unified
license, delinked from spectrum, to exploit the benefits of convergence.
India is aiming at a One Nation — One License, Mobile
Number Portability, Free Roaming regime, across services and service areas.
Further, an entity can hold maximum 25 percent of the allotted spectrum. Rules
have been liberalized allowing M&A between two firms together controlling
35 percent of market share, which can go up to 60 percent market share, on case
to case basis,” said Kapil Sibal, delivering a keynote address at the ongoing
telecom sector GSMA Leadership Summit 2012 in Barcelona
All key stake holders— industry, regulator and the political class— need to
work together to benefit consumers, empower poor and restore viability of
industry.
India is already networking its 800 Universities and 24000 Colleges through Optical
Fibre Cable to empower its youth. Though rural teledensity has risen from 1.73
percent to 37.48 percent over the last 5 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 of not only the price
sensitive, semi-literate poor class but also the rich intellectual class, which
demands high quality of products and services.
editor@telecomlead.com
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