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Ensure Bharti Airtel Connectivity Program’s Timely Implementation: Telecom Body

The Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (Tema) has said that the government should ensure that the ongoing Northeast region connectivity program awarded to Bharti Airtel should be speeded up, noting that progress has been very slow so far.

“The government should ensure that the ongoing initiative (Northeast-II) should be completed at a similar pace at which it was awarded to Bharti Airtel,” Tema Chairman NK Goyal told ETT.

The Rs 1,650-crore contract was awarded to Bharti Airtel and Bharti Hexacom in December 2017 to deploy 2,004 towers in six states including some parts of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, and Tripura under the Northeast-II connectivity program.

Since then, only 15 sites have been made up so far, as stated by telecom minister Manoj Sinha in December 2018, with no further official data available.

But a Bharti Airtel official said that as many as 50 sites were up on date and the telco has decided to deploy 4G along with 2G technology at most of the locations, which is being done at its “own expense” which was over and above the project cost.

Goyal also said that the government should examine as to why progress was slow and should take “suitable action”.

The scheme, a 100% USOF-funded, was originally approved at Rs 1687.21 crore, and was later brought down marginally to Rs 1,655.66 crore, after dropping Meghalaya to cover separately, and provided full-ownership of infrastructure to the telco.

Goyal also said that Tema had previously written letters to the DoT as well as the Cabinet Secretary, highlighting alleged irregularities in “making terms more lucrative” in the new contract than those mandated for state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) in the previous contract, which was junked.

The newer conditions included a higher upfront subsidy, revision of preferential market access (PMA) norms, exclusion of solar power, and extended “conditional” rollout period, Goyal said.

A senior government official rejected Tema’s claims, saying technical specifications were changed in the second tender “to encourage wider participation and provide additional options”, and not with any ulterior motive to favour any party.

The administrator of the USOF, which is a Rs 48,000 crore strong government reserve under the Department of Telecom (DoT) that funds telecom connectivity initiatives in India’s uncovered regions, did not respond to ETT’s emailed queries. Airtel also didn’t reply to ETT’s queries.

State-run Telecom Consultants of India (TCIL), that had prepared the detailed project report (DPR) for the program, has a 30% stake in Bharti Hexacom, a unit of Bharti Airtel.

The Telecom Commission, now rechristened to Digital Communication Commission (DCC), the highest inter-ministerial decision-making body of the DoT, received the recommendations to change tender provisions from a USOF committee on February 17, 2017, which was ratified at a meeting on February 22, 2017.

In one of its letters to the Cabinet Secretary, seen by ETT, Tema alleged a breach of Cabinet rules, but government officials rejected the allegations.

The USOF-led committee “conceded to the demands” of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and “changes were made” in the tender floated in March 2017, without a Cabinet nod, according to a Tema letter.

A government official said a Cabinet nod wasn’t necessary and that the then Telecom Commission had necessary powers to modify the already-approved document.

“The Cabinet had empowered the Telecom Commission that it would be the apex decision-making body for the entire Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan (CTDP) for the Northeast region including funding and technology within the overall cost approved by it,” the senior official said.

COAI, that represents private telcos including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio, has said it had held discussions with the USOF on contract, and that it had only highlighted the policy-related common issues in 2016 and early 2017.

The ambitious overall program for the Northeast region was approved in September 2014, and in May 2018, the Cabinet has revised the program’s cost to Rs 8,120.81 crore, from the earlier Rs. 5,336.18 crores.―Business Telegraph

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