India Telecom

September 7, 2002
TRAI calls for competition in telecom

NEW DELHI -- M.S. Verma, chairperson, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has called for a "strong, clearly demarcated competition law" to manage the emerging telecom scenario.

"The present legal backup is only the TRAI Act. For effective management of competition, it clearly falls short," Verma told an audience of the telecom industry and professionals at a function organized by the Pacific Telecom Council (PTC) India Foundation to confer the first "Telecom Man of the Year" award to the Union Communication and IT Minister Pramod Mahajan.

Verma's keynote address covered the complex issues of competition and went into reasons why intra-sectoral conflicts in the telecom industry were persisting. The NTP99 had the telecom sector plugged into competition to increase affordability, teledensity, universal access and world class communication infrastructure. "We as a country opened all sectors to competition. In some sectors it has taken roots and brought advantages to the consumer. But is that all?" Verma asked.

He added: "Competition has not taken root completely. There is need to enlarge and enhance the role of each one of the three factors in this, the government, the regulator and the service provider." Verma analysed that the cause was the absence of a "strong and swift remedy" through a competition law, the persistence of issues of dominance and predatory pricing and the fact that the the TRAI Act was the only present legal back up.

In this back-up there was an absence of a single point regulation. Licensing was with the government while the guidelines for licensing, intra-industry issues and tariff fixation were with the regulator. This distributed arrangement was not effective. Only a single point regulation could ensure a level-playing field.

Verma wanted BSNL to clarify its position. Was it holding on to its parent's apron strings? Is it willing to leave this dependence and stand on its own?

On the much talked about achievements of China in telecom vis-a-vis India, Verma who recently visited that country, was emphatic that the two could not be compared. Chinese policies were dictated from above. It was a centrally led system unlike ours. "How many of us want that system to operate here", the chief regulator asked.