Along with Dr. Manmohan Singh, A. Raja returned for a second term as the Minister of IT and Communications and faces the challenge of finalizing and auctioning of 3G spectrum and the pricing and modalities of allotting 2G spectrum. He will have to take steps to increase the teledensity in rural markets which stand at 10 percent (70 percent in cities).

Raja also aims at taking the telecom services to the lower strata of the country while calling for increased competition in the sector to keep the tariffs down. He visualizes to work towards paperless governance to reach at least the taluk level as part of the national e-governance plan. He also says that the government would consider the listing of BSNL as proposed by the government's board but has ruled out the merging of MTNL and BSNL.

"My priority will be to provide world-class telecom services to the masses at competitive prices. I will accomplish universal coverage of both voice and broadband connectivity. In IT, I will work for paperless governance and stimulate to be a major manufacturing hub in the electronic hardware sector under the semiconductor policy."

A Raja
Minister of IT and Communications

The telecom and networking industry is waiting eagerly for the 3G and WiMAX auction to happen as it would change the way we communicate. The government faces the challenge of increasing rural penetration and making broadband available and affordable to masses. It needs to rationalize the revenue sharing and the multiple tax regimes. With Raja taking over the ministry, the telecom industry is looking at speeding up the process of introducing mobile number portability (MNP) across all fixed and mobile operators.

The telecom and networking industry is waiting anxiously with its carefully designed wish list. We, at Communications Today spoke to industry leaders in the telecom and networking sector and quizzed them on their expectations from the new government in terms of reforms and policies and the upcoming budget. We bring to you the first part of the two part series. Here's what they had to say...

Release of 3G/WiMAX Spectrum Auction Date
We all have been waiting for it since August 2008. The last time when date was declared in February 2009, we already knew it was not going to happen till the formation of the new government, by the end of June 2009. Now is the best time to take on the issue early.

Improving Rural Mobile (Internet) Penetration
With basic needs yet to be satisfied, bringing mobiles to the wish list of rural India is justified by the fact that, it is more of a necessity than luxury. Telecom infra sharing is well perceived but better infra sharing norms are needed, both active and passive.

Making Broadband Affordable to masses
If speed is not a concern, reach-ability and affordability could be. With fastest internet speed in India at 16Mbps, we have only seven million broadband users. Awareness among people, high literacy rate among masses and relevance of internet in day to day life could help in bringing broadband to people unless we bargain on cost.

Improving QoS of Existing Mobile services by Making Operators More Accountable
If we are talking about 3G norms, then don't forget that we are still far away from customer satisfaction on existing platform. No Indian operator complies with QoS benchmark set by regulators, fully.

Making Long Term Telecom Policy, Reviewed Every Five Years, in Consultation with Industry Experts
The theme of long term policy should be aligned for national interest (local players benefits and encouraging competition for quality), beneficial for masses. Perhaps charting a separate telecom evolution path suitable for our need (Indian masses) will be just needed from the government.

Encouraging Telecom Technology Innovation and Lessening Technology Dependency on Foreign Players in Long Terms
It was a long time we heard anything from C-DOT. If Huawei/ZTE could do it, why can't we? It all comes from long term goals set by regulators/governments with specified chartered path.

Releasing New Technology Guidelines at Faster Pace
Take an example of MVNO guidelines or VoIP, industry foresaw the benefits of both long back, but still we are helpless. We got the technology, we got the funds but we have no rules & regulations for it, what do you expect then? This time we won't talk about need of time.

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Atul. R. Deshpande
Assistant Manager, Network Services, Idea Cellular Ltd.

Atul Nigam
DGM-Information Systems, Samsung India

"With the congress led UPA government back in power, we expect a lunge forward in the 3G and WiMAX areas. The industry can also expect some rationalization of the revenue-sharing regime. The current sharing amount is steep at 25-30 percent and makes India one of the highest tariff payers in the world. Improvement in new technology, upgrading trends would be the road ahead. We would like to propose optimism and desire for the telecom and networking industry to grow in abundance.We hope the new government will take a positive decision on reducing the levy paid by the private operators to the government - called USO- to help the telecom industry expand to rural areas which were once impossible. On a more consumer level, we hope the tariffs will be reduced especially on international and long distance communication and the much awaited number portability decision as well."

Shailendra Badoni
COO, Datacraft, India

The government should bring enablers like—number portability, VoIP, availability of spectrum etc in order to ensure introduction of new telecom services in the country. Stability at the centre increases the confidence of the industry in general and of the foreign investors who wish to invest in telecom growth story of India for the next five years. With a focused government initiative towards telecom industry, it will be feasible to achieve the‚ 'numbers' i.e. 500 million telephone subscribers and 20 million internet subscribers by 2011.It should be the first priority of the ministry to facilitate the auction of spectrum for 3G & WiMAX services. The introduction of these services will enable mobile broadband services to proliferate in urban and rural India, and it will enable telecom operators towards greater reach/teledensity in rural India and in turn help counter the negative impact of economic slowdown.

Jayant Deo
President, RAD India

Ramanath L Ram
General Manager, Consulting Sales, Wipro Infotech

From the ages of one phone in the whole district to the target of 500 million subscribers base by 2010, which seemed to be a too ambitious a target till some time back, is close to reality. It has not happened in a day; it required a meticulous planning and reviewing of IT policies year after year, embracing new technologies and keeping industry progressively vibrant. There are certain important decisions which are waiting for new formed government to act upon like 3G spectrum, the listing of BSNL over the stock exchanges to make it more competitive and performance oriented. Government need to be more open in terms of its policies especially with public sector undertakings like BSNL, DOT etc. Government needs to take more initiatives in developing its domestic markets. Due to the enormous size of the domestic market, Indian market itself can generate enough momentum for Indian economy to sustain the growth expectation of the Industry. Telecom industry is very relevant example of the same.

Shailesh Awasthi
Program Manager, Motherson Sumi Infotech and Designs Ltd.