Free Essays for Competitive Exams-The Telecom Vision

The Telecom Vision

The Indian Telecom sector has proved to be an International success story. The sector has witnessed a commendable grow over the past 2 years. With an overall subscriber base of 960.90 million and a tele density of 79.28%, the sector continues to grow from strength to strength.  With the urban tele density reaching  at 168.88, rural India is the key target market likely to drive the next round of growth, particularly for voice based services. The target of  40% of rural teledensity  at the end of 2014 has already been achieved and at present it is 40.21%.  BWA and 3G spectrum will enhance the wireless broadband penetration across the country and help connect the remotest locations across India.  The Government has a vision to provide telephone connection and broadband facilities on demand across the country and at an affordable price and it strives to achieve the same.

            The telecom sector has shown robust growth during the past few years and with 960.90 million telephone subscribers, it is 2^nd largest in the world.  The growth is mainly due to wireless telephones and participation by private sector.  As on 31^st May, 2012, the share of private service providers stands at 86.62% and that of wireless telephones is 96.72%.  Wireless subscribers increased from 165.09 million in 31^st March 2007 to 960.90 million by 31^st May, 2012. During 2011-12, the wireless connections grew at 13.25%, whereas landlines registered a negative growth.  The share of private sector in the number of telephones has increased from 65.32% (134.48 million telephones) in March 2007 to 86.62% (832.36 million telephones) in May 2012. Teledensity in the country is steadily increasing. The overall, rural and urban teledensity in the country stands at 79.28%, 40.21% and 168.88% respectively at the end of May 2012. 

Creation of General OFC Infrastructure “National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN)”

            The optical fiber has predominantly reached state capitals, districts and blocks at present.  NOFN is planned to connect all the 2,50,000 Gram Panchayayts in the country through optical fiber, utilizing existing fibers of PSUs  viz BSNL, RailTel and Power Grid and laying incremental fiber where ever necessary. Dark fiber network thus created will be lit by appropriate technology creating sufficient bandwidth at Gram Panchayayts level. Non discriminatory access  to the network will be provided to all the telecom service providers.  These access providers like mobile operators, Internet Service Providers(ISPs), cable TV operators, content providers can launch various services in rural areas.  Various applications for e-health, e-education, e-governance  etc. will be provided.  The project will be funded by USOF and initial estimated cost of project is Rs. 20,000 Crore.  The project is being executed by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) namely Bharat Broad Band Limited(BBBL), which has been incorporated on 25^th February, 2012 under Indian Companies Act, 1956.

National Telecom Policy-2012

·        National Telecom Policy-2012 (NTP-2012), approved by Union Cabinet on 31^st May 2012, addresses the Vision, Strategic direction and the various Medium term and Long term issues related to Telecom sector.

Licensing, Convergence and Value Added Services

Strive to create One Nation - One License across services and service areas.

 Achieve One Nation - Full Mobile Number Portability and work towards One Nation - Free Roaming.

To orient, review and harmonise the legal, regulatory and licensing framework in a time bound manner to enable seamless delivery of converged services in technology neutral environment. Convergence would cover:

Convergence of services i.e. convergence of voice, data, video, Internet telephony (VoIP),  value added services and broadcasting services

  Convergence of networks i.e. convergence of access network, carriage network (NLD/ ILD) and broadcast network

 Convergence of devices i.e. telephone, Personal Computer, Television, Radio, set top boxes and other connected devices.

 To move towards Unified Licence regime in order to exploit the attendant benefits of convergence, spectrum liberalisation and facilitate delinking of the licensing of Networks from the delivery of Services to the end users in order to enable operators to optimally and efficiently utilise their networks and spectrum by sharing active and passive infrastructure.

  Put in place a simplified Merger & Acquisition regime in telecom service sector while ensuring adequate competition.

 To facilitate resale at the service level under the proposed licensing regime – both wholesale and retail, for example, by introduction of virtual operators – in tune with the need for robust competition at consumer end while ensuring due compliance with security and other license related obligations.

To delink spectrum in respect of all future licences. Spectrum shall be made available at a price determined through market related processes.

To facilitate convergence of local cable TV networks post digitalisation.

To put in place an appropriate regulatory framework for delivery of VAS at affordable price so as to fuel growth in entrepreneurship, innovation and provision of region specific content in regional languages.

To put in place a framework to regulate the carriage charges, which are content neutral and based on the bandwidth utilisation. This will also encourage non value added services such as provision of data and information over the mobile platform.

 Reposition the mobile phone from a mere communication device to an instrument of empowerment that combines communication with proof of identity, fully secure financial and other transaction capability, multi-lingual services and a whole range of other capabilities that ride on them and transcend the literacy barrier.

Spectrum  Management

Ensure adequate availability of spectrum and its allocation in a transparent manner through market related processes. Make available additional 300 MHz spectrum for IMT services by the year 2017 and another 200 MHz by 2020.

·To undertake periodic audit of spectrum utilisation to ensure its efficient use.

To prepare a roadmap for availability of additional spectrum every 5 years.

Broadband and Rural Telephony

 Increase rural teledensity from the current level of around 39 to 70 by the year 2017 and 100 by the year 2020. .

To recognise telecom, including broadband connectivity as a basic necessity like education and health and work towards ‘Right to Broadband’.

Provide affordable and reliable broadband-on-demand by the year 2015 and to achieve 175 million broadband connections by the year 2017 and 600 million by the year 2020 at minimum 2 Mbps download speed and making available higher speeds of at least 100 Mbps on demand.

Provide high speed and high quality broadband access to all village panchayats through a combination of technologies by the year 2014 and progressively to all villages and habitations by 2020.

Telecom Infrastructure/Row Issues, Green Telecom, Clear Skyline, Mitigation Efforts During Disasters and Emergencies

To work towards recognition of telecom as Infrastructure Sector for both wireline and wireless and extension of the benefits available to infrastructure sectors to telecom sector also, to realize true potential of ICT for development.

To facilitate increased use of alternative sources (Renewable Energy Technologies) of energy for powering telecom networks through active participation of all the stakeholders – the government, the telecom industry and the consumer for green telecommunications. Sector specific schemes and targets for promotion of green technologies will be finalised in consultation with Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and other stakeholders.

Quality of Service and Protection of Consumer Interest

 To undertake legislative measures to bring disputes between telecom consumers and service providers within the jurisdiction of Consumer Forums established under Consumer Protection Act.

Cloud Services

 To recognise that cloud computing will significantly speed up design and roll out of services, enable social networking and participative governance and e-Commerce on a scale which was not possible with traditional technology solutions.

Telecom Enterprise Services, Data Use New Technologies and IPV 6 Compliant Networks

To facilitate the role of new technologies in furthering public welfare and enhanced customer choices through affordable access and efficient service delivery. The emergence of new service formats such as Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications (e.g. remotely operated irrigation pumps, smart grid etc.) represent tremendous opportunities, especially as their roll-out becomes more widespread.

 To recognize the importance of the new Internet Protocol IPv6 to start offering new IP based services on the new protocol and to encourage new and innovative IPv6 based applications in different sectors of the economy by enabling participatory approach of all stake holders.

Role of Regulator, Changes in Legislation

To review the TRAI Act with a view to addressing regulatory inadequacies/ impediments in effective discharge of its functions.

To undertake a comprehensive review of Indian Telegraph Act and its rules and other allied legislations with a view to making them consistent with and in furtherance of the above policy objectives.