The Hindu : National : 'They are off disinvestment list'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 27, 2004

National

National

'They are off disinvestment list'

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI, MAY 26. The Government today ruled out privatisation of three state-owned undertakings, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Indian Telephone Industries (ITI).

"They are off the disinvestment list," said the Communications and IT Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, while announcing a 10-point agenda to ensure that the spread of Information Technology brings tangible benefits to the masses. The loss-making ITI and BSNL are wholly-owned government companies while state holding in MTNL is just above the 50 per cent mark.

Asked whether he was in favour of increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) in the telecom services sector, Mr. Maran said he was "willing to consider" the proposal. The issue has been hanging fire for several years with two powerful lobbies in the corporate sector ranged on either side.

The Minister said he would like to "revamp" the telecom policy in order to take full advantage of the latest technological developments and provide world-class facilities to the people.

Asked whether the new Government planned to `revamp' or `revise' the telecom policy, Mr. Maran said the previous telecom policies had failed to focus on several aspects. The endeavour would be to bring these areas within the ambit of policy-making. Emphasising the need to increase the tele-density levels, he said the achievement of seven phones per 100 people was not enough. The aim should be to reach a tele-density of at least 14. The Government would also like to focus on improving the quality of service (QoS). This aspect is also the preoccupation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) but QoS will be the major concern of the Government as well.

He said all steps would be taken to encourage the telecom sector and minimise the `digital divide'. Connectivity will be provided to the 50,000 villages which do not have telephone facilities, preferably during the current year itself and Internet will be taken to big villages.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the spread of Internet which has not been commensurate with the growth of the telecom sector, Mr. Maran wanted a paradigm shift. Apart from focussing on access and quality, the issue of convergence of data, voice and image would be studied at an appropriate time, he added.

The Minister would be studying the TRAI's recent recommendations on broadband and Internet. About manufacturing of telecom equipment within the country, he said the sector needed to be encouraged to promote indigenous manufacture. The boom in phone usage had failed to benefit the domestic telecom manufacturing industry, he noted.

On convergence, he said the Bill proposing the merger of information, communications and electronics (ICE) sectors was being examined by a Parliamentary Standing Committee. "At an appropriate time, we will look into the issue. We need to study it from different angles."

Listing the 10-point agenda in IT, Mr. Maran said his endeavour would be to expeditiously implement the national e-governance plan, connect all Internet service providers to the national Internet exchange and develop next generation mobile wireless technologies. On the issue of security and digital signatures, he said necessary steps should be taken to promote the use of digital signatures in the financial sector, judiciary and education. The Government plans to migrate to a new Internet protocol `IPV-6' that is considered more secure.

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