Contents - Connect-World

National Development
Vision and opportunities in the Indian Telecom sector
by Prithipal Singh, Convenor, National Advisory Council, India-Tech Foundation’s TELECOMM India
2004
Although telecommunications in India began in 1853, it was only in the last decade that
market-based reforms of the telecom sector began to provide service for the vast majority
of the countys people. Since then, tele-density has increased five-fold and service tariffs
have gone down substantially. Nevertheless, although urban tele-density is close to the
global average, rural tele-density is considerably lower, and sharp regional variations exist.
Bringing universal access and universal services to India will require heavy funding and
massive efforts.
Mr Prithipal Singh is currently the Convenor of the National Advisory Council of India-Tech Foundations
TELECOMM India 2004. Prithipal Singh previously served as the CMD of BSNL, India’s largest telecom company.
Mr Singh was founder Director, Operations of BSNL Board. Before, Mr Prithipal worked as Chief
General Manager, Rajasthan Telecom Circle, PGM, Chandigarh and in different posts in the Department of
Telecommunications. Mr Singh is a graduate in Electrical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College.
Introduction
In a progressively converging Information,
Communication and Entertainment
environment, the imperative is to provide
universal access. The Maitland
Report of 1984 entitled "Missing
Links" put forward the objective that
by early part of the next century virtually
the whole of mankind should be
brought within easy reach of a telephone.
One of the most quoted statistics
from that report was that "Tokyo
has more telephones than the whole of
the African continent."
The term Missing Link essentially
refers to the lack of telecom infrastructure
in developing countries. The
report highlighted the growing
inequalities in telecom resources
between developed and developing
countries. It observed that there is a
direct correlation between the availability
of, and access to telecom infrastructure
and a countrys economic
growth. Of course, according to some,
it is economic growth that fosters telecom
growth. Perhaps there are elements
of truth in both the propositions;
they interact with each other,
leading to the growth of telecom and
economy in a country.
Indian scenario
In India, the year 2003 was celebrated
as the 150th year of Indian
Telecommunication/Telegraphy.
Telegraph services commenced in
India with a link established in 1853,
which is nine years after Samuel
Morse invented the telegraph transmitter.
Telephone came to India soon
after Alexander Bell invented it in
1876. However, at the time of independence,
there were only 80,000
telephone subscribers and that too,
mostly government oriented. In fact,
governmental monopoly pervaded the
entire sector from manufacturing to
providing services.
The Mission for Better Communication,
which ushered in the PCO (Public Call
Office) revolution in the eighties,
could be considered as a starting point
for reforms in the telecom sector. This
was followed by the National Telecom
Policy of 1994 definition of Value
Added Services; the opening up of
Basic Services and the constitution of
a statutory regulator.
However, reforms progress was
bogged down in litigation and difficulties
faced by the operators in paying
the licence fee determined through the
bidding process. Consequently, the
New Telecom Policy of 1999 and the
migration of the existing operators to
a revenue sharing licence fee regime
significantly accelerated the growth of
this sector. The hallmark of NTP 1999
was market-based reform with unrestricted
entry in all sectors except the
cellular mobile services where availability
of spectrum was a limiting factor.
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